Author: Patty

367 Addison Avenue: Go Beyond Printing to the Heart of Your Business

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Small businesses are finding more and more ways to use online resources to help their business grow and be successful. For example, HP MagCloud has helped thousands of businesses and independent publishers engage with their audiences, but did you know that HP has other small business resources available to help owners grow far beyond their communication and publishing needs?

A great resource is www.367AddisonAvenue.com. This HP small business blog features tips and tricks on basic business technology, how-to’s to grow your business, advice from leading experts on trends and upcoming small business technology, and stories about small businesses across the U.S. that are practicing technology innovation.

To all the small business owners and independent publishers out there who are trying to get your businesses off the ground, we encourage you to visit this blog to learn more on topics including:

You can also join the conversation or be the one to start it at HP’s Small Biz Nation community.


MagCloud 2012 Resolutions

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The MagCloud team is really excited about 2012. With a new year comes an opportunity to think about what changes and improvements we would like to see on the website and with our service offerings.

So here are our top resolutions for MagCloud this year:

  • Offer More Product Types: including a cool square format and a larger landscape product.
  • Enhance our Direct Mail Services: making it easier to send publications to groups of customers, colleagues and subscribers in print and digital format.
  • Provide New Tools for Publication Creation: new web based authoring tools, templates and an improved help section to make creating MagCloud-ready publications easier.
  • Reward our Community: Referral and Advocate programs to reward MagCloud users for helping us spread the MagCloud word and attract new publishers to the service.
  • Enable MagCloud-aware Applications: enhance the MagCloud platform to make it easier for third party developers to build their own websites and applications on top of MagCloud that can link directly to MagCloud’s publishing and distribution capabilities.  So no need to recreate all the heavy lifting we’ve already spent the last 3 years building. Just tap into MagCloud and offer our services as part of your business.

These are just a few of the things we have in mind but we always appreciate your feedback on what new features are most important to you.

To ensure your voice is heard please take a few minutes to complete our short MagCloud user survey. After you complete the survey you’ll receive a coupon for 15% off the production costs of future purchases of full-priced publications on MagCloud.*

We look forward to your feedback and to an amazing year for the entire MagCloud community.

*This coupon cannot be combined with other offers or sales on the MagCloud website and is valid through April 30th, 2012.

Maximize the Impact of Your Member Communications

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Now that we’ve shared some of our best MagCloud examples of member communications, it’s time to talk content. What information is vital to include and what is best to leave out? Our take, like in most printed materials, is that less is more.

For many independent organizations, fundraising is typically a part of your member communications. Because of this, if not for other reasons, you must ensure that your materials are concise and compelling to make sure you’re reaching as many members as possible with your message.

Here are a few more tips to consider when composing your next member communication:

Spotlight Individual Members – Profiling a particularly active member can bolster involvement from the rest of the members who will strive to earn the honor as well, and it may drive the spotlighted guest to share the communication with his or her broader online network thus spreading the reach of your group.

Promote Your Social Media Channels – Many alumnae organizations have LinkedIn Groups and local community groups often have Facebook Pages. Whatever your channel, be sure you’re using your printed materials to promote your online social media channels. It’s a fast way to spread your message and it’s easy to communicate last-minute details about upcoming events.

Limit the Real Estate– All members are aware of the need for fundraising so when creating your materials, try to balance your fundraising call to actions with information that will inspire and inform members about your cause, club or organization. Each group will have a different setup, but no matter how many pages your publication is try to balance fundraising efforts with important news and updates.

Be Mindful of the White Space – We’ve spoken a lot about this subject in previous blog posts, and our advice remains the same. Make your images eye-catching and high quality (hire a professional photographer, if possible), but be sure you leave room on each page to avoid overcrowding.

Share your best practices for member communications in the comments below!

MagCloud Holiday Schedule

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The holidays are upon us and the MagCloud elves are hard at work getting final holiday orders out.

We will be taking some time off during the holidays (even a MagCloud elf needs a break now and then) so you may experience some delays in orders, as well as customer support response time.

MagCloud Holiday Schedule:

  • Closed: December 24th, December 25th, December 31st and January 1st.
  • No Printing or Shipping: December 26th, December 30th and January 2nd

So please expect the following delays:

  • 1 day delay for orders placed on December 22nd and 23rd
  • 2 day delay for orders placed on December 28th and 29th
  • 1 day delay for orders placed on December 30th, 31st and January  1st.

From everyone here at MagCloud we wish your and yours a very Happy Holiday Season!

The MagCloud Team

Congrats To All Our Portfolio Contest Entrants

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The voting period has officially closed for our first-ever Portfolio Contest. We received a lot of impressive submissions and are having a blast seeing the work that our publishers do every day. Thank you to all who submitted and voted in the contest.

Winners will be notified in mid-January. Your patience is appreciated during the next few weeks while we sort out the winners. Until then, check out all the great entries on our Facebook page.

A big thank you to our sponsors: Wacom, Pantone and MyFonts. Their products made our prize packs irresistible!

Remember, there will be a total of ten lucky winners. Here’s a little reminder about what you could be taking home.

We appreciate your time and energy and would love to hear any feedback on our contest in the comments section below.

 

 

Getting Your Members on the Same Page

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Community organizations, non-profits and student groups all work hard to build a strong member base that understands and spreads their mission. From new member materials to monthly newsletters, a clear, well-designed member communications strategy is an important step towards that goal. Thankfully, MagCloud is here to help you achieve that goal. Many groups already publish their materials with MagCloud and we’re excited to show you the high quality work they’re producing. These examples should give you a few ideas about where to focus your materials:

Orange County Orchid Society publishes this monthly newsletter filled with images of the group’s beautiful orchids and to update the group on its members, the latest meeting notes, tips and a few local ads.

American Glass Guild newsletter features a message from the president of the AGG, the latest news on awards and recognition for members and a recap of a recent AGG workshop.

Fort Collins Alumnae Chapter of Delta Delta Delta has several important updates for members such as key upcoming dates, a note from the chapter’s PanHellenic rep, an update on Fall recruitment and plans for several events in the next year.

Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity quarterly publication is a good publication for other Greek organizations to get content tips for. It features a spotlight on outgoing seniors and new members and several editorial pieces from members looking to stretch their writing muscles.

The Pulse is a publication by the Korean American Students of Yale that packs a concise update into six pages including a message from the outgoing board, notes from the most recent board meeting, a look at the top 9 KASY moments of the year and, of course, some funny KASY superlatives. It’s worth noting that each KASY publication is similar in length but the content varies by issue.

Let us know what member communications materials you use to share updates with your members. We want to hear about it

Our Product Family Keeps Growing

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Today we launched two new products into the MagCloud family–Digest Landscape and Flyer.

Digest Landscape is compact and ultra-portable at 8.5″ wide x 5.5″ tall. It’s perfect for portfolios, brochures, catalogs, books and more.  Simply upload an 8.5″ wide x 5.5″ tall PDF and we’ll trim it down by 0.125″ on the top and bottom and 0.25″ on the outside edge to a final size of 8.25″ wide x 5.25″ tall so it’s ready for our professional printing presses.  We’ve also updated our website preview app so users will be able to preview your publication in all it’s landscape glory.

Our double-sided, single sheet Flyer product is ideal for brief messages or content that changes often such as sales promotions, menus, product data sheets, event schedules and more. Simply upload an 8.5″ wide x 11″ tall PDF and we’ll get it ready for printing by trimming it down by 0.125″ on all sides to a final size of 8.25″ wide x 10.75″ tall.  We print Flyer publications as a single sheet with a front and back side, so if you only upload one page don’t worry we’ll automatically add a blank page for the back side.  The Flyer product does require a minimum print order of 10 copies which will be bundled into one shipping order.

We hope you enjoy these new products and would love to hear how you plan to use them in our comments section below.

2011 Holiday Shipping Schedule

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During the holidays the MagCloud elves tend to be extra busy so please order as early as possible and allow extra time for delivery. Below are our estimated time frames for December 23rd delivery.  We also recommend you consider using our FedEx shipping options this time of year so you’ll have the added piece of mind of being able to track your order from our holiday headquarters to your doorstep.

USPS and FedEx are very busy this time of year and in some locations may be impacted by weather delays so we recommend you also check their websites for the latest updates:

USPS Mail Service Updates

FedEX Service Delays

New Catalog Template

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Looking for ways to showcase your growing line of products or services?  We have added a new catalog template to our free template collection.

This multi-page template is for Adobe InDesign users and is perfect for product or service brochures.  We’ve created a sample publication using this template to show you how easy it is to make a great looking catalog that is MagCloud-ready.

If you are new to using Adobe InDesign to create MagCloud-ready publications make sure to download our Adobe InDesign Getting Started Guide for tips on settings for trim, bleeds, image resolution and more.

Let us know what you think of the new template in our comments section below.

Attract an Audience to Your Event with Great Content

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Whether you are planning a large conference, an intimate meeting for VIP customers, a quarterly gathering for club members, or an annual fundraising event, content plays a pivotal role in attracting and pleasing attendees.

Compelling speakers are the most important factor in attracting attendees to your event.  Finding speakers who are relevant, experienced and have a unique story to tell will not only drive attendees to your event, but keep them talking about it well after the event is over. You should even consider soliciting potential attendee feedback in the process of selecting keynote speakers, panelists and meeting topics.  A great example of this is the South by Southwest Panel Picker, which allows their community to vote on proposals for various speakers and panel topics, thus engaging their audience in the actual content programming of the event.

Networking is more than a handshake. Besides great speakers the other reason people attend events is to network.  As an event organizer you can help your attendees get the most out of the event by making networking easier before, during and after your event.  Use the existing social networks to get attendees talking prior to an event—event Facebook Pages or Groups, Twitter Hashtags, LinkedIn Groups etc.  Consider hosting Birds-of-a-Feather sessions or lunches where attendees can gather to informally discuss topics of mutual interest.

Attention grabbing materials.  Print and digital materials you use to promote your event—brochures, flyers, newsletters; and inform attendees while at your event—programs, daily papers, agendas etc. are an important factor in audience engagement. Events like music festivals, sporting events and business conferences are complemented well by programs that can serve as both a guide to attendees as well as used for marketing material down the road. An event program is a great way to showcase the talent you’ve organized, share the purpose of your event, promote your sponsors and acknowledge those who deserve thanks.

Here are a few of our MagCloud favorites (from MagCloud publishers as well as others) to provide some inspiration:

    • Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs published the program for their August 2011 event in San Francisco. This program does a great job of posting the packed schedule along with speaker bios and ads for local businesses (It’s clear they put a priority on great design – a top MagCloud tip!)
    • 2010 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – it’s not just about a one-week event in October. This program delves into the history of the annual Balloon Fiesta and gives details on each balloon flying at the event – it’s sort of like the “speaker bios” of the balloon festival world.
    • 2010 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open program has a clear focus on great photography especially the shots of the individual holes (pages 50-66) not to mention beautiful integrations with their sponsors. The ads are woven into the program and don’t feel forced or out of place.
    • SXSW 2012 Event Marketing brochure is chock full of impressive stats, engaging content and gorgeous design.
    • TED Fellows 2011 Booklet gives shout outs and thank yous up front along with a brief description of the program and of course a look at each TED Fellow and the work they are up to.
    • Guide to Davos dives into the topics at hand for the 2011 Davos Conference and gives the reader a feel for the tone and sheer importance of the event. Layout is unique and could work well for an event that requires articles in their program to communicate its story.

And if you are ready to get started on materials for your next event and need a little help check out our collection of free event program and brochure templates:

Have you taken a unique approach to selecting speakers, creating networking opportunities or created killer event materials? If so please feel free to share those ideas in the comments section and tell us what kind of feedback you received from event attendees and partners.