5 Creative Holiday Uses for Business Cards

The holiday season is here, and your customers probably have a checklist. Send out greeting cards? Check. Decorate a tree? Check. Purchase gifts? Check. But have they considered adding business cards to their checklist?

The business card might seem like an everyday item—and it is a business essential for a reason—but it can also be a small canvas for big holiday plans. Because of the wide variety of stock options available for business cards and the variety of print options, business cards could be an ideal addition to your customer’s holiday season when they are used creatively. Even better, you’ll save instantly on business card shipping throughout December. Here are our five creative ideas for using business cards in the holiday season.

Drink Tickets
Is your customer hosting an event for the holiday season? Whether they are hosting a New Year’s Eve bash, celebrating the holidays with employees or hosting a fundraiser for a good cause, drink tickets could be a must-have element of the evening. Business cards make ideal drink tickets because they are pocket-sized and easy to personalize to match any event décor.

Gift Tags
Whether your customer is creating a gift for top clients, employees, or simply friends or family, a business card could be a creative gift tag option with flair. Not only can they easily be branded for your customer’s business gifts, but they can easily be taped or tied in place with ease. Gift tags can also be printed to match event décor to add an instant finishing touch to door prizes and gifts alike. – Check out our Shaped business cards for more ideas.

Coupons
Holiday sales and special offers are a hallmark of the season, and business cards make ideal colorful coupons that can be sent alongside invoices, scattered on tables at storefronts, or stacked by the register. Your customer could also give these coupons as a gift for customers who make holiday season purchases and to encourage them to start the New Year with another purchase.

Business Cards for Santa
Does your customer want to add an extra touch to Santa’s presence at their retail location? They should consider creating business cards for him! Full color print will make them festive, and these business cards could even point kids to a Santa phone number for an extra surprise.

Event Favors and Easy-to-Distribute Gifts
Is your customer looking for a lightweight favor or gift that they can give out at large events or send to a large group of their clients? Magnetic business cards are a fun option that is a colorful surprise they’ll appreciate now and may keep for weeks and months to come.

Want one more reason to order business cards for the holiday season? You’re in luck! Business cards and other Stationery items have 50% off shipping through December! These savings will be applied automatically for online orders. Be sure to place your order by December 31st to save.

Do your customers get creative with business cards during the holiday season? We’d love to see your creative uses in the comments below.

Something New on Navitor.com

We are continuing to make our website the best ordering tool for you. The upcoming release the evening of December 12th, will introduce the new feature of Coupons!

You will notice that when you log in you have a new feature on the My Account page, a new area for coupons.

When you have coupons available to use they will display in this area.

With each coupon, you can click on the code to open a new page that will display more information about the coupon.

  • You can view what the coupon is valid for
  • View the end date of the coupon
  • View the max uses of the coupon
  • View the number of times that the coupon has been used

There will be instances that you may have a coupon available to use that we provided to you that may not display in the coupon area, however, the coupon will be valid when you enter the code in the shopping cart.

In the shopping cart there is also an option to View All Coupons when this is clicked, a new window will appear with the available coupons. Simply click on the coupon that applies to your cart and the coupon will automatically be added.

And we’re not done yet. We have many more enhancements planned throughout the next year and beyond. Remember to check back in the beginning of January to view all of the new 2020 catalogs! Please let us know what you think of the site — as well as any suggestions you have for making Navitor.com better.

Introducing The 2020 Label Works Catalog

We’re excited to share our 2020 Label Works custom labels catalog with you! While we’ve maintained the offering you loved from last year, we’ve also expanded and added new features. PLUS, we’ve wrapped it up in a fresh, new look!

Here’s a quick overview of what’s new for 2020:

  • Expanded Most Popular 24 Hour FasTurn® Label offering
    • 1-3 color imprint now available
    • Additional shapes, sizes and stocks added
    • Increased Process Color offering
  • NEW! Silver Film BOPP Stock
    • A standard stock for ALL 24 Hour FasTurn® Labels – no upcharge!
  • Lowered freeform™ Laser Cut Labels pricing on both Indoor & Outdoor offerings – plus, still the fastest production time in the industry
  • NEW! Reflective Labels
    • Great for high visibility in low-light or dark conditions
    • Long range scanning, perfect for warehouses

Just can’t wait to receive yours? View the 2020 Label Works e-catalog now

As always, give us a call at 1.800.522.3558 or email us at customercare@labelworks.com if you can’t find what you’re looking for; our capabilities stretch far beyond the scope of our catalog offering. Lean on Label Works to be your experts in delivering exactly what your customer is looking for!

Pantone Announces 2020 Color of the Year

Pantone, the leading authority in color, has announced their choice for color of the year in 2020: Classic Blue (PANTONE 19-4052)! A timeless and enduring blue hue is elegant in its simplicity and satisfies our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.

What Does Pantone Say?
According to Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, this color is the constancy and confidence needed for the New Year. “We are living in a time that requires trust and faith,” says Eiseman. “Classic Blue, a solid and dependable blue hue we can always rely on. Imbued with a deep resonance, Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation.”

Eiseman also says that the 2020 color of the year is a boundless blue evocative of the vast and infinite evening sky, Classic Blue encourages us to look beyond the obvious to expand our thinking; challenging us to think more deeply, increase our perspective and open the flow of communication.”

A Dependable and Stable Foundation in Design
Incorporating the color of the year into print and design is a great way to keep things focused and help bring clarity to your design, and “dependability” is the name of the game with this reflective blue tone. Its sense of peace and tranquility offers refuge to the human spirit.

If your customers want to pair Classic Blue with another color, they’re in luck. Pantone has a number of suggestions for color pairings when your customer is creating their print. From cool blue pairings and an array of warm and soothing shades to help induce a gently calming effect and feelings of peaceful tranquility to the human spirit.

Looking for a way to make Classic Blue even more special? Consider pairing it with a specialty stock or process! Consider pairing with Enhanced Finishes for another level of design.

A Color for All
Classic Blue is a great fit for many different industries, it’s a particularly natural fit for customers that need to convey dependability and stability in their business. From Healthcare to Banking and Finance the reassurance of Classic Blue will put their customer’s minds at ease.

What do you think of Pantone’s choice? Do you think your customers will want to use it in their print? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Freshen Up Your Dated Goods for the New Year

The New Year is rapidly approaching, so now is a good time to talk to your customers about refreshing their date stamps and embossers while they prepare to order other dated goods like calendars, planners, and appointment books.

Most businesses work with documents that must be dated. From checks and mailings to dated forms, a date stamp can save your customers time and formalize the documents they use every day. Our collection of date stamps has an option perfectly suited to your customer’s business.

Xstamper pre-inked date stamps can be used thousands of times before needing to be re-inked. Our 2000 PLUS Self-inking stamps are great for high-volume use and can also be used thousands of times before their built-in ink pad needs to be re-inked or replaced. Every dater we offer is guaranteed for the duration of its date band, so your customers are sure to enjoy their date stamp for years to come.

Does your customer need something a little more durable this year? We’ve expanded our line to include Comet and Pullman stock band stamps. These heavy-duty stamps bring together an industrial-grade body and a long-lasting band, making them a durable option for daily and repeated use.

Does your customer sell a product that has an expiration date? Dater stamps are one way to make sure that date is clearly marked. These stamps are ideal for small businesses that sell food, like independent bakeries or butcher shops.

The New Year is also a great time to ask about new notary stamps and embossers for your customers who are certified as a notary public. Because their stamps or embossers need to be updated periodically, checking in with these customers is a good way to make sure they are prepared for the new year.

For more information about the daters and embossers, you can offer your customers, take a look at the stamp and embosser sections on our website.

Create a Winter Marketing Strategy that “Wins”

We’ve talked through marketing strategies for the rest of the year – now it’s time to plan for this winter! As the weather gets cold and, for many of us, snow becomes a constant topic of conversation, it provides an opportunity to start our planning with a blank canvas. Winter is the perfect time to regroup, set goals and much more. Here are our tips for creating a winter marketing strategy.

“Start Early!”
If your customers order print for a business that has seasonal services, this is the time to remind them that their marketing should start early. For example, if you work with customers in the lawn care industry, they should be laying the groundwork for new customer relationships before the first blades of grass peek through the snow. Talking to these customers about the necessity of starting early is a good way to boost your business and theirs.

“Be Visible!”
Step up your social media to reach out to more customers when the weather doesn’t allow you to get out as much as you’d like. Or simply give your customers a call. If things have slowed down due to the weather, consider giving a call to your customers.

Make Sure Your Emails are Polished
Consider updating your email signature to include your photo or company logo and using fonts that work well with your branding to add style to your everyday emails. You should also work to ensure that any promotional emails like newsletters look good, too—use photographs and be sure to show the best of what your business has to offer.

And speaking of digital promotions…

Online Options
One of the best ways to market to your customers is to give them a way to browse your product offering without having to brave the snow. One in-depth way to do this is to create a website that allows your customers to order online, but there are small ways to give them online options, too. PDFs of product flyers or customized digital catalogs can both be sent through email and ensure that information about your product offering is only a click away.

Want to get started on these simple online options? You’re in luck—Navitor offers free online flyers and digital catalogs. Visit Zoomcatalog to get started on personalizing your copy of the Navitor catalog or check out our free digital flyers for more information.

How do you promote your business when you’re snowed in? We’d love to see your winning winter marketing strategies in the comments below.

Is it Time for Your Customers to Reorder?

The New Year is fast approaching, and that means it’s time for your customers to reorder the print pieces they rely on! Whether their print needs an update before 2020 or they want to freshen things up, it’s a great time for them to reorder the pieces they use every day. It’s also a good time for you to remind your customers of the products they might want before January. Here’s a checklist of the things your customers should consider reordering before the New Year.

Stamps and Embossers
Stamps and embossers are some of the most common products that need to be reordered before the New Year. From notary stamps and embossers that require updating to dater stamps that end in 2018, freshening up your customer’s stamps is a good way to ensure that they have everything they need on January 1st.

Business Cards
Whether your customer has updated their branding or just wants to ensure that they have enough on hand, the end of the year is a good time for them to place an order for updated business cards. It’s a good time for customers to update these business essentials with new job titles, updated photographs, and other important details.

Promotional Products
If your customer’s tradeshow schedule is anything like ours, they’ll probably try to start the year strong with event attendance. This means that it is an essential time to update their promotional products! Not only does this give them a chance to replenish their stock after holiday giving, but it will also give them the chance to consider new promotional products for 2020. And, speaking of promotional products…

Calendars
Whether your customer keeps branded calendars in the office or wants to create a promotional piece that will last throughout the year, calendars are a great option. Ordering soon will ensure that they will give 365 days of marketing impressions.

Awards
The end of the year is also a great time to update awards. If your customers have an employee of the month program (or are looking to start one), the end of the year is an ideal time for them to make sure they have personalized plates for all of this past year and a new plaque for next year. Navitor’s cherry finish perpetual plaques let your customers reward their best employees every month and encourage other employees to work hard, too.

More information about Navitor’s wide range of useful products can be found on the Help and Resources page of our website. There, you can view all of our updated catalogs and see the new options and old favorites we currently offer.

Is it time for your customer to reorder? What print pieces are a yearly must-buy? We’d love to see you join the conversation in the comments below.

The Best Folder Experience

Are your customers looking for ways to increase their business success? Are you looking for a way to boost your bottom line? If so, FolderWorks™ has the answers to both of these questions!  We are confident that our products, solutions, and services will deliver success for both you and your customers and provide you with the Best Folder Experience.

Created for your Customers
Believe it or not, presentation folders are an effective tool for your customers to market and promote their business.  They present information in a professional and organized fashion to both employees and customers and are a great way for your customer to present the informational, educational, or promotional materials you are likely already providing for them.

A Boost for Your Business
Importantly, the average retail dollar value of one presentation folder order is almost $800.  If you aren’t selling folders, you are missing out on a product line with high sales (and income) potential!  And, if you aren’t using FolderWorks™, you are missing out on the Best Folder Experience in the industry!

Numbers Your Business Can Count On

  • Orders are produced On-time more than 98% of the time.
  • Customers rate our quality at 99% on orders purchased
  • We answer the phone within 5 seconds of your call.

The Best Folder Experience is our commitment to being fair and honest to all our customers. This is a significant differentiator among our competitors and key to providing high ticket/high profile products like presentation folders! We focus on the following key issues that impact your presentation folder business:

We don’t believe a +/- 10% over/under policy is fair to you. We send you the quantity you order. No shortages and no automatic additional charges if there happen to be extras.

We aren’t afraid to talk to you, in fact, we encourage it! We know presentation folders are high ticket and high profile products and we want to help you find the perfect folder for your customers!

We know your time is valuable! Our friendly and knowledgeable sales associates and customer service representatives strive to answer your call within 10 seconds. In fact, since 2017 our average speed to answer is 5 seconds!

We do NOT sell to your customers. We are your silent partner and you can trust that we will never contact your customers.

Want to know more about how FolderWorks™ is supporting you as a silent partner? Take a look at our non-branded materials that help you increase product awareness and help build your brand loyalty. Want to learn more about new market opportunities? We’ve created this flyer to help you. Or, if you’d rather call us, we’d love to hear from you. Give us a call at (877) 294-5028 to ask your question and try us out!

Product Spotlight: Magnets

Are your customers looking for simple promotional products and will stick around? A fun way to promote events or a special occasion? Whether they want something as small as a business card or as large as a sign, magnets are a versatile canvas that are practical and flexible.

Full Color Magnets
Full color magnets are an ideal size for a wide variety of different uses. Printed with a sports schedule, they can make a great fundraiser for high school sports teams, take-home to keep parents and students organized, or “than you” gift for donors. Printed with essential phone numbers, they can be used by realtors looking to introduce homeowners to neighborhood restaurants or hotels wanting to keep contact information close for guests.

Full color magnets are available in three different sizes: 5 1/2” x 4 1/4”, 4” x 10”, 8” x 10”. These sizes are large enough to contain plenty of information, but small enough that they are easy to use as promotional pieces because consumers can place them on refrigerators, filing cabinets, and other household locations.

Magnetic Business Cards
You’ve probably seen plenty of magnetic business cards before, so I won’t spend too much time describing what they are. These business-card sized magnets are a classic promotional option for the service industry customers, tradeshows, and more. Traditionally, they are printed with contact information just like a business card: a phone number, an email address, and sometimes a physical address or an employee photo to make a more personal connection.

These business cards aren’t just business cards, however. Any information that can be printed on a business card can be printed on these magnets. They can be used as specialty drink menus for hotel room service, a “welcome” gift from realtors to new homeowners, “save the date” reminders for upcoming events, and to express a wide variety of other shorter messages.

Shaped Magnets
These full color magnets are available in five popular shapes that fit nearly every customer’s needs: House, Circle, Van, Square, Oval. Sized as the perfect giveaway at their next event to share company information. These magnets can be viewed in our catalog and ordered manually.

What makes all of these magnet options so versatile is that they are printed in full color, allowing your customers to personalize magnets large and small with their company logo, photographs, vibrant designs, and more.

Do your customers order magnets? Which size is their favorite? We’d love to hear more about it in the comments below.

Adding a Touch of Luxury to Announcements

A personalized announcement delivers more than an invitation to a big event, holiday greetings, or thanks. It elevates your customer’s message to a new level, whether your customer is looking for a traditional announcement for their grand opening or a luxurious specialty announcement for their biggest events. Here are our tips for adding a touch of luxury to your customer’s print order.

Capture the Look of Gold or Silver Leaf with Foil Stamping
Nothing says “luxury” quite like a metallic, and bringing that metallic to your customer’s design is a great way to give it a touch of luxury and to emphasize their message or their logo. Whether your customer wants the tried-and-true look of gold foil on an ivory or white stock, pairs the sheen of foil with muted colors for a vintage look, or is seeking the sophisticated and chic look of foil paired with darker hues like black or jewel tones, foil stamping is a great choice. It makes an especially big impact on Announcements, where it shows off that high end feel with every invitation delivered.

Add Depth With Enhanced Finishes
An alternative to traditional foil is the variety and luxury provided by Enhanced Finishes. Choose Spot Gloss to add a glossy finish, Raised Foil to add depth and shine, or Raised Spot Gloss to provide a tactile element to a spot gloss finish.

Choose a Heavyweight Stock for a More Substantial Feel
Sometimes, luxury is something you have to feel, and heavyweight stocks are one way to convey that luxury if your customer wants to use a full color image in their print. Extra thick stock can give business cardsannouncements, or postcards a substantial feel that instantly makes an impression, and color core pairs that heavyweight feel with a vibrant colored core that shows along the edge of the print piece. Choose the color core stock that matches their design, or use a black core to add a sleek touch that matches any design.

Make Something Really Extraordinary! Consider our Crystal Glitter Stock
If your customer wants something completely unique and eyecatching, they should consider a design that takes advantage of the heavyweight thickness and unexpected pop of color that comes from color core stock with the sparkle of a glittered surface! The crystal white finish of our glitter stock is more than just sparkly. It has a subtle, iridescent look that adds depth and visual interest to the glitter finish. And we are pleased to note that the glitter stays put on the stock’s surface—this means that it won’t lose its sparkle before it’s been handed to the customer.

The glitter also adds a textured surface to any business card, announcement, or postcard that uses glitter stock, adding an extra touch of tactile appeal. This means that when a design features heavy ink coverage and the glitter itself is covered by that ink, there is an appealing textured surface on those areas. And because of the colored core, Crystal White Glitter Color Core stock will weigh in at an impressive 45pt. thickness that is sure to stand out from the crowd.

We are offering a special deal just in time for the holidays 25% off the new crystal white glitter color core and color core announcements and postcards from now until December 31st. Visit Navitor.com to save automatically through our online ordering tool.

How do you help your customers decide what print products and processes are best for them? Do you have any suggestions to share? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.