Stationery: The Definition of Brand Support
The definition of the word “stationery” is letter, communication or writing paper, especially with matching envelopes, and other office materials.
Initially, the definition of stationery doesn’t sound exciting. But if you think about the copious amounts of printed office materials with which your potential and current clients come in contact, like business cards, sales letters, invoices, you’ll realize the power stationery has on your company image and brand.
Sadly, most businesses, non-profits, and government organizations fail to realize exactly how much power their stationery has when it comes to initial impressions of service offerings and ultimately what their contacts think of their business, non-profit or government organization.
We see this sort of thing far too often at our local printing company, Graphic Ideals, so we’re here today to share some personalized stationery design tips and printing services to help you take your personalized stationery from “stale” to “savvy,” allowing you to get the most out of your custom printed stationery set!
Your Logo, Brand and Printed Personalized Stationery: How They Connect
Your organization or business brand isn’t just your logo, it’s your organization’s whole personality! Is your brand strong or sweet, mellow or exciting?
The feelings and ideas you want to inspire in others can help you choose the colors, fonts, and ultimately your logo–the icon you use to identify yourself. We recommend using no more than two type styles per printed piece. Any more and your personalized stationery will start to look unprofessional. The main point is to stay consistent throughout your printed custom stationery set.
Do all of your office correspondence materials match and present a cohesive brand that’s easily identifiable by your customers or donors or prospects? Are you as happy today with your logo as you were when it was first implemented?
If not, request an online graphic design quote from Phoenix printer, Graphic Ideals. We would love to help you change up your branding so your potential and current clients or contacts can remember who you are and what you stand for.
The standard custom-printed stationery set
So what does the standard stationery set include and what organization or business information is included on these personalized stationery items? Here’s a quick list!
Custom Business Card Design: What To Include
- Organization or Business Logo
- Organization or Business Name
- Your Name
- Your Title
- Organization or Business Address
if your location is a visitable location
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- Website Address
- E-Mail Address
- Cell Number (optional)
- Tagline (optional)
You Leave, and Your Custom Business Card Stays Behind
So what is your business card saying behind your back after you leave? That you’re a professional company or trusted organization, or perhaps it’s telling potential contacts that you are living on a shoestring or that you don’t pay attention to the details. The bottom line is, poorly designed business cards send the wrong message. Thankfully your trusty Phoenix print shop, Graphic Ideals, can help you with that! We offer business card design and copy proofreading to make sure your custom business cards introduce you in the best way and say only nice things about the potential quality of your service.
When you send out your well-crafted sales letter or non-profit end-of-the-year donation letter, the letterhead it’s printed on can say as much to your interested lead as your carefully crafted letter. Your customer, client or donor is receiving a secondary message based on the look and feel of your letterhead. Silent signals that are ever-present telling them whether to trust you or to run the other way!
Custom Letterhead Design: What To Include
- Organization or Business Logo
- Organization or Business Name
- Tagline (optional)
- Organization or Business Address
Where You Receive Mail
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- Website Address
- E-Mail Address
The Design of Your Custom Letterhead Can Make or Break Your Deal
So what’s your letterhead saying to that new lead?
Is it conveying the proper:
- priority,
- status,
- professionalism,
- dignity and
- image
that your organization and business really wants to project? Especially while delivering your super important letter and all that copy you spent hours carefully crafting?
A Note About Color and Watermarks on your Custom Designed Letterhead: Leave Room For The LETTER!
You want to match the look and feel of your organization’s brand. Be careful not to overdo the use of color or watermarks on your custom designed letterhead, because you want to make sure that the letter that you write is still easily readable and that the design elements aren’t overpowering your content.Your letterhead design should showcase your message, not smother it!
Paying as much attention to the custom letterhead you’ve printed your message on will go a long way in getting your message properly delivered and Phoenix printing company Graphic Ideals can help you. We offer letterhead design, copywriting, editing, and proofreading services, and our digital printing can help you use variable data printing that can save you a ton of time customizing your donation or sales letter copy.
When’s the last time you took a good look at your letterhead? Could it be that your letterhead needs a little “freshening up”? Let Graphic Ideals, your locally owned Phoenix print shop, help you. Just let us know what’s lacking in your letterhead through our online quote request form and we’ll get right on it!
Your envelopes are the first thing your new lead or customer sees when they get your letter, yet many businesses and organizations fall flat when it comes to the “opening experience” of their mailings. Take a tip from Apple and take the time to think about how your contacts are going to “unwrap” your mailed offering.
Stationery Envelopes: What To Include
If you’re not printing mailing labels then you want to pay particular attention to these items (order based on recipient’s interest)
- Addressee’s Name
- Addressee’s Address
- Teaser (optional)
Sender Information:
- Organization or Business Logo
- Organization or Business Name
- Tagline (optional)
- Organization or Business Address
Where You Receive Mail
More Optional Sender Info:
- Phone Number (optional)
- Fax Number (optional)
- Website Address (optional)
- E-Mail Address (optional)
Custom Envelopes: Get Creative and Stand Out Against the Competition in the “Snail Mail” Inbox
Your personalized envelope in your custom printed stationery set is a great place to get creative and stand out. Getting your correspondence sorted into the “to-read” pile rather than in the crowd of junk mail hanging out in the recycling bin is our goal.
Envelope Sizes: Stand Out by Being Bigger or Smaller
Check out all the interesting envelope sizes that Graphic Ideals design or folding services can fit you in!
You can get your mailing out in style with an interestingly sized envelope–one great way to get your mail noticed!
We’ve provided a helpful envelope size diagram of standard International Mailing Sizes to get your creative juices flowing about how you might want to try a different envelope size to stand out in a crowded mailbox. (thanks to Designers Insights)
Colored Envelopes: Stand Out While Being On-Brand
Most businesses and non-profits will be mailing out in their plain white standard business envelopes, and while looking like ordinary mail might help get you opened, it doesn’t really get you noticed. Make a statement, or clue the one clutching the letter opener in to what you have in store.
Instead of going all out with the color on your letterhead, use bold colors for your envelope to really maximize brand impact and stand out. We’ve included a handy “Anatomy of the Envelope” diagram (thanks to Designers Insights) to help you get creative and give us the information we need to properly print your custom designed envelopes.
Envelope Printing: The Backside of the Envelope is Yours
There is a LOT of information on the front of an envelope, but the backside remains unclaimed. Many businesses and organizations ignore this opportunity to make a clear statement, but you can claim this unused, uncluttered free space to really make your envelope teaser stand out. Score more brand brownie points and get noticed while your letter is being opened.
Custom Printed Window Envelopes: Use Windows To Highlight Your Offer Before It’s Opened
You can “tease” the mail recipient with a custom printed window envelope that shows off your offering inside, or perhaps you’ve added a promotional product like a magnet or some custom-printed stickers, giving them something tangible (“a prize inside”) for opening your correspondence.
Second sheets are intended to be used when your letter or document is more than a page long and are very similar to your main organization or business letterhead.
Custom Second Sheet Design: What To Include
- Organization or Business Logo
- Organization or Business Name
- Tagline (optional)
- Organization or Business Address
Where You Receive Mail
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- Website Address
- E-Mail Address
The second sheet gives you yet another opportunity to make a brand statement, but remember our tip to leave enough white space for your letter on your organization or business letterhead. Same rules apply here.
Other Personalized Stationery Printing Services Provided By
Your Local Print Experts at Graphic Ideals in Phoenix
The six custom stationery printing items mentioned above (brand, logo, business card, letterhead, second sheet, and envelope) are only the most standard personalized stationery services of the full breadth of printing services of what we provide you through our local Phoenix print shop, Graphic Ideals.
We can provide brand and graphic design, copy writing, editing, proofreading, color printing, variable data digital printing, print folding and print finishing services for all of your personalized stationery needs, like:
- Mailing Labels
- Return Envelopes
- Return Address Labels
- Shipping Labels
- Boxes and Packaging
- Rubber Stamps
- Pocket Folders
- Work Orders
- Invoices
- Buckslips and Mailing Inserts
- Statements
- Thank You Cards
All of these items are tools used to conduct business. They all have your logo, name, address and contact information clearly printed on them, and they’re all “office materials.”
Your local, family owned and operated Phoenix print shop, Graphic Ideals, can provide you expert printing services for your personalized stationery in all its various forms. Feel free to request an online printing services quote or come in and show us what you’ve got, and perhaps what you do and don’t like in others’ materials, and let us help you come up with a savvy solution to “SSS”: Stale Stationery Status.