Stuck A "Save The Date Magnet" To My Laptop And . . .

OK, I admit to being forgetful - often. Here's a double-dose of recent forgetfulness that saved me from a huge dose of embarrassment but cost me a laptop in the process . . . First, the good news. My very cool niece announced that she was getting married. I suggested that we send out save the date magnets with her announcements so everyone invited could post the full color magnets to their fridges. Great idea! They sent out several hundred invitations that included the couple printed in full color on a wonderfully designed save the date magnet. Cool. To make to sure that I would not forget the date - and thereby suffer the embarrassment of being a no-show - when my invitation and save the date magnet showed up I promptly forgot . . . about magnets and computers - despite warnings from sites like http://www.my1stop.com/save-the-date-magnets.aspx . That's right. I immediately stuck the save the date magnet to the one place I knew that I'd see it everyday - almost all day - my laptop. Bad idea. If you're not familiar with the relationship between save the date magnets and computers (laptops or any others) here's a quick primer: They don't mix. In fact, even a relatively small amount of magnetism can disrupt your computer. In my case, the hard drive was scrambled. Completely. No recovery. So, as I type this blog on my new laptop, I remain a big fan of save the date magnets - from a reasonable distance.

Mar13

My Magnet Sticks Better Than Your Magnet!

All custom magnets (save the date magnets, fridge magnets, promotional magnets) are not made equal. You need to think about this if you're ordering full color custom magnets because . . . 5 Things You need To Know About Buying Custom Promotional Magnets Number 1. Mega-thin magnets don't work. Don't buy them. You've seen the mega-thin custom magnets around - they are so thin that they curl-up like paper - they don't stick. A good custom magnet supplier will offer you free samples before you order. Try http://www.my1stop.com/magnetContents.aspx as an example. If the magnet stock curls up - don't buy it. Number 2. Cheap magnets cost way too much. Odds are that a low-cost magnet has less magnetic quality. Magnets are measured in poles. You want 10 to 12 poles. get samples. If the samples fall on the floor - not only did your promotion al message get lost - your business looked to cheap to send good stuff. get samples. Number 3. Full color is not too expensive. If your message is worth putting on a custom magnet - then print in full color. The new digital printers out there have brought full color custom magnet printing prices down - way down. You can often buy full color magnets for just about the same price as the older one or two color custom magnets. Remember, photos - in full color - leave a lasting impression. Number 4. Mailing magnets the easy way. If you have a lot of magnets to sort and stuff into envelopes for mailing. Don't bother. There's a better way. You can buy custom magnets already attached to a letter or document that is ready to be mailed. Some of these "integrate magnet" solutions even allow you to personalize each letter - and each custom magnet - on your desktop printer. Some of the printers can print the whole job for you. Cost more? maybe not - if you figure in your time and energy to manually stuff the letters and magnets. Check it out at http://www.my1stop.com/magnetContents.aspx . Number 5. Have fun! Designing custom magnets in full color should be a gas. The advent of full color printing has turned custom magnet project into an opportunity to create mina Mona Lisa - that stick around for almost as long as she has! Quality printing sites, like My1Stop.com offer free design templates for quick download. So what are reading this line for? Have fun - get started . . . !

Mar13

This Flag Won't Fall.

There is an American Legion Post in our town. Every year they hold a silent auction to benefit local children's charities. As you can imagine, promoting the auction is really important to its' success. Being veterans, they like to include the American flag in their promotions. One of the older guys a WW2 vet, is always concerned about using the flag in their artwork - her just doesn't want to see the flag (even a picture of it) be dropped to the ground or soiled. That's cool. Here's the way we used custom magnets called save the date magnets to accomplish their promotional goals . . . We selected digitally printed save the date magnets so that our custom magnet design could include included a really vivid picture of our flag and the date and location of the auction. We picked custom magnets rather than fliers or buttons or bumper stickers because we knew that the newer custom magnet materials stick well. A custom magnet with the flag on it will stay stuck to the fridge and not fall down to the floor. Also, the new custom magnet materials we selcted (see http://www.my1stop.com/save-the-date-magnets.aspx for examples) are printed so that they can be wiped clean if soiled. We met the "respect for the flag" requirement by designing a promotional custom magnet that would not fall tot he ground and could be cleaned up if soiled. We appreciate the respect for the flag and the service our veterans have provided. Next time you need to promote a special date, think about save the date magnets and using our flag if possible.

Mar13

Day Spa Magnetizes Customers! They'll Come Back For More . . .

This is a true blog entry - I saw this with my own eyes in vivid detail and full color - at our local day spa. What was I doing at a day spa, you ask? I was escorting my lovely wife to the spa - and not for the for the first time. You see, the spa is cleverly using very unique custom magnets to draw my wife - and dozens of other unsuspecting locals - back into the mysterious realm of the suburban day spa. Here's how the custom magnets work for the spa. . . During their initial visit to the spa, customers are handed an exquisite full color presentation folder with a variety of full color inserts and . . . in each pocket . . . two custom magnets. The custom magnet trap is set! You see, these are not ordinary magnets. No., these custom magnets are irresistible to the new day spa visitor. These custom magnets do the one thing that every day spa visitors wants . . . these custom magnets suggest that sap visitor makes a return trip! I suspect that they were printed by our friends at My1Stop. Each custom magnet is printed in full digital quality showing a pictures of exotic flowers drifting leisurely in a pool of clear (ex-folliant embedded-jasmine and sea weed extract saturated-lava pumice bits em-bused) water. The custom magnets simply state, "Return, Rejuvenate - Spa Grislebend" (we live in Grislebend - hence the spa's name). These custom magnets end up on the fridges of every woman who visits. Every single-one. I've been to their homes and seen the custom magnets from Sap Griselbend on every Kenmore, Whirlpool, and LG fridge in our town. Everyone. Why two custom magnets you ask? When you're rejuvenated you want to return with . . . a friend . . . the one who you gave your second custom magnet to as an invitation.

Mar13

Magnetic Pizza - The Quiz

This is a print brain quiz for you. Print Brain is a quick-quiz that tests your printing knowledge. You have to use your imagination here. Let's say you wanted to decorate every fridge in your county with a full color reminder of what great tasting pizza you make - and that you deliver on time with a smile almost anywhere? The answer, might just stick with you . . . Would you: a) Have the local sign shop create a custom full color van wrap for each of your customers' fridges? b) What's a van wrap? c) Give each customer a free slice of pizza with your business card stuck to the cheese toppings - with a bottle of spray adhesive and instructions on how to throw the pizza at their fridge so that it sticks long enough for you to saturate the pizza and the fridge with the spray adhesive - being careful to keep your business card on side that's showing? d) What's spray adhesive? e) Print up some full color custom magnets with a photo of your pizzas that's good enough to eat with your deliver hot line number printed right on top of the anchovies? f) Print up some plain white magnets with your phone number on them. Obvious answer, right? print the full color magnets! Full color magnets printed from the new digital printing gear out there really look like - the real thing! You can almost smell the cheese and tomatoes! Makes you want to take a bite out of the card. In fact, several online printers offer custom full color magnets with custom magnet shapes - like bite marks! Take a look at http://www.my1stop.com/magnetContents.aspx for details!

Mar13

Magnetize Every Event With Save The Date Magnets!

This is a really cool use for fridge magnets - save the date magnets both announce - and remind - in magnetic full color. Very cool. Save the date magnets are great for for your next event. Perfect for personal events like birthdays, weddings or anniversary parties. But they have great business and organization uses, too Here's an example of save the date magnet printing project we did . . . We recently used save the date magnets to increase attendance at fundraisers auction. Our decision to use save the date magnets was an easy sell to our client. They were looking for fresh ideas to pump up attendance at their primary fundraising event. Being a small private school, their annual auction is their biggest fundraiser every yea. Over the past few years - attendance at the big fundraiser was down. We did a simple design, featuring a marquis cut of the school's bell tower, we layered the logo over a green field of grass and added their auction tag line and date, time and location. We even had room for the event web site. We visited the My1Stop site often for free design templates and instant online pricing (see http://www.my1stop.com/save-the-date-magnets.aspx ). Wow! Did we get results! Attendance was up by more than 10% and proceeds were up by more than 15%. You might say that our save the date magnets really attracted more people. Let us know of other business applications for these great full color custom magnets!

Mar13

The Poles Are Turning Color

News flash! The magnetic poles are turing full color! It's true. The poles - those used in custom magnet printing that is - are going full color! The days of bland one or two color custom magnet printing are gone! New digital printing technology can help you make fast and affordable full color magnet printing a reality! Here's how to turn your custom magnet project into a full color success . . . First. Do your shopping online. Several good web sites offer option selections, instant online pricing and artwork uploads right on their sites. Be sure to check out http://www.my1stop.com/magnetContents.aspx as an example. Second. Work from a design template. Our friends at My1Stop (see link above) offer free custom magnet templates for download. These templates will help you accurately define the print area - making the use of bleeds and positioning of elements accurate - and awesome. Third. Use photos and color variations in your background and text. Take full advantage of the color spectrum because - now - your best full color custom magnet design can be printed just the way you designed it. That's all you need to turn the poles in your custom magnet project - full color!

Mar13

Announcing The Fridge Beautification Project

We have a creative 5 year old so our fridge is covered in save the date magnets, pizza delivery magnets, dental appointment magnets and every other kind of fridge magnet you can think of. Can you relate to this scene? Here's the rub. The magnets are not beautiful. In fact, I wonder of they deserve to be holding up artwork from our sons' early impressionist-cubism period. I mean these fridge magnets are as important to our sons' masterpieces as is the frame around the Mona Lisa, right? These magnets should look good - but they don't. So, to correct the injustice being done to my sons' incredible artistic outpouring, I embarked on a short but vital mission to understand why most fridge magnets are ugly. Come on along, I'll share share what I found out about ugly fridge magnets . . . OK, first things first. The don't the magnets on your fridge really serve two purposes? For our family, they are first - and most importantly - used to hold up our son's masterpieces in finger paint, crayon and glued on macaroni noodles and second for the family to use the fridge magnets like some huge random magnetic day planner with numbers for the pizza guy and the dentist and the date and time to cousin Jenny's wedding - all stored on magnets holding up our sons early impressionist period artwork. So, every fridge magnet has a purpose. But, why are they all printed in spot colors on a white background? That's ugly, man. All except . . . the save the date magnet for cousin Jenny's wedding. Now that's worthy of holding up our sons' latest works. It has her and her fiances' photo in full living color placed over a hopeful blue screened background with scrolling gold leaf-looking text announcing their fateful date, time and place. It's beautiful. It's informative. And it's worthy! Where are these magnets and why don't more people order them? They can't cost much more than spot color magnets - Jenny's dad is the biggest cheapskate in the family. To get the inside information on full color magnet printing I turned to http://www.my1stop.com/magnetContents.aspx . I did some trial pricing on their site and others. I discovered that full color magnet printing is about the same price as 2 color magnet printing. Recently, digital printing capabilities have been applied to printing fridge magnet is full color - lowering printing costs - increasing quality greatly and most importantly - enabling everyone who buys fridge magnet to print magnets worthy to hold any kids artwork on any fridge - anywhere! I found, that America's fridges can be beautified - at a good price! Let the Fridge Beautification project begin - with you?

Mar13

The Secret To Making Sticky Colors!

So what's the stickiest color? If you were designing a promotional item, what color would you pick? In the entire color spectrum which one hue is the color magnet - which one color really "sticks" with people? Red? Red is hot and it grabs attention to be sure. Blue? Blue is very cool and soothing. Yellow? Yellow is bright and happy. Black - and white? Formal and traditional. Which one? Which color is the stickiest? Here's the secret to making sticky colors . . . The secret to making color stick? FULL COLOR PRINTING . . . ON MAGNETS! The right photo printed in full color can usually leave a more lasting impression than a simple phrase or even a logo - printed in spot colors. And, hey, what sticks around better than a full color magnet stuck to fridge or cabinet? BUT!!!!! full color magnet printing doesn't have to cost more than spot color magnet printing. In fact, the new digital magnet offerings (see http://www.my1stop.com) as an example, features full color magnet printing at prices that I used to pay my local printer for 1 color logo magnets! Now that's how you make sticky colors - work for your next promotion!

Mar13