If you think about it, the opportunities are pretty limitless. Instead of printing one type of custom calendar with cute kittens or big cars, give your customers several choices. With printing becoming more and more affordable, there really is no excuse to not give this one a shot.

Sizes
First of all, even if you don’t want to take the time to develop several different promotional pieces, you can easily adjust the size. Small and large notepads, big desk calendars or the smaller picture calendar, give the customer a choice, and instead of passing up your offer, you might see them grabbing several different pieces.

Graphics
Another set of options you should consider is to give the customer several color schemes or designs from which to choose. Not everyone wants cute kiddos on their wall, but they might reach for the calendar with a landscape scene.

Types
Don’t limit yourself to one type of promotional item either. Bookmarks, calendars, notepads, and posters – you have lots of options for giveaways. Don’t limit your customers to one or two items.

The goal is to transform the experience of accepting your promotional items into a shopping experience. By engaging in the process of choosing items that reflect a piece of their personality, the customer takes ownership and enjoys promoting your company for you.

Overnight Mailing Carbon Footprint
FileTransferIsGreen put the following scenario to the test: they pretended they were going to send a printed document weighing 2 pounds overnight from Atlanta, Georgia to Salt Lake City, Utah. They listed all of the elements that would need to go into the overnight package:

• The shipping paper for the envelope or box.
• Paper for the address label.
• Driving the package to the dropoff box.
• The carrier picking up the package and driving it to the distribution center.
• The package being driven from the distribution center to the airport.
• The airplane flying to its destination.
• The package being driven from the airport to the distribution center.
• The package being delivered from the distribution center to its destination.

FileTransferIsGreen admits that certain factors are impossible to calculate, like the paper needed for the envelope or how far the carrier drives to or from distribution centers. But, they did calculate what they could, including:

Package Dropoff: 2.2 pounds of CO2 (for two miles roundtrip)
Carrier Trucks: 2.2 pounds of CO2 (for another two miles roundtrip)
Airline Travel: 60 pounds of CO2 (for a Boeing 737-300 to travel 1585 miles)

TOTAL: Approximately 64 pounds of CO2 for one overnight package, not counting the paper used in the packaging.

FTP Carbon Footprint
FileGenius, one of FileTransferIsGreen’s sponsors, estimated the power used to service one of their customers on a FTP upload. They estimated that each one of their servers uses 400 watts, or 288 kWh per month. And since each server can service 50 customers, each customer’s monthly portion would be about 2.88 kWh per month. (Is this correct? I’m not great at math, but I would think 100 customers would equal 2.88 kWh per month. Anyway, this isn’t my study, but I’d appreciate a more broken-down calculation!)

Using a CO2 calculator (the same one used to determine the CO2 used in the overnight delivery), it comes out to each customer being responsible for 8.6 pounds of CO2 per month of FTP usage.

That’s a pretty big difference—note the 64 pounds is for one overnighter and the 8.6 pounds is for one month. And as FileGenius pointed out, the $40 spent on overnighting a package will add up to much more than paying for an FTP service.

Another Example
An architectural firm needed to get plans to 24 corporate and branch office locations of its client. If mailing the plans, 24 packages would have had to go out in shipping tubes, overnight. Transporting the packages through truck and air would cost the firm $100 per package. However, the firm saved $2,400 just by uploading the plans to an FTP site where all 24 client locations could download the plans and view them offline.

This example doesn’t come with CO2 emission numbers, but we can assume from the previous example how much 24 packages would amount to if one package sent overnight amounted to 64 pounds of CO2 : 1,536 pounds of CO2! That’s crazy. The money and the carbon footprint savings would easily pay for the FTP service for months.

FTP seems like a win-win for companies and the environment.

(Example provided by FileTransferIsGreen.)

Greenwashing is when companies misrepresent their greenness in marketing – they either claim they’re green when they’re not, or they claim to be more green than they actually are. Basically, greenwashing is lying about being green. For instance, a company might claim to use 100% recycled paper when in reality the paper is only made of 75% recycled content.

Coca-Cola’s Environmental Stewardship

To me, it seems as though Coca-Cola is really trying to be more environmentally friendly in its operations. The company has already taken strides in reducing its water usage with its water conservation initiatives around the world and its recycling campaign in the U.S. The Times Square announcement falls perfectly in line with Coca-Cola’s new campaign: “Refresh. Recycle. Repeat.” This campaign supports its goal to recycle or reuse 100% of its aluminum cans and plastic bottles in the U.S. By promoting its green efforts early on, Coca-Cola is breaking new ground for multi-national consumer goods companies.

Showcasing Corporate Initiatives

Up until recently, corporate social initiatives were only announced internally in annual reports and externally by the PR departments when there was an image problem. Marketing managers have been too afraid to promote social initiatives publically due to the possible backlash if someone found out about an unsavory practice. Coca-Cola’s Times Square announcement showcases its leadership and also might be a precursor to more international companies evolving to current trends and customer demands.

Consumer Shift to be Green

This shift in emphasis can be attributed to mainstream America dealing with the same challenges as corporate America, but on a smaller scale.

In the past few years, consumer attitudes have shifted toward the environment. People are more concerned about their own carbon footprint and are buying up LED light bulbs, hybrid cars and organic cotton clothing. Consumers are worried about their actions on their health and the environment for this generation and generations to come. President Obama and other high profile figures have helped bring global warming and other environmental concerns into the mainstream.

According to a 2008 DoubleClick Performics survey, 60% of consumers say it is either “extremely important” or “very important” for companies to be environmentally conscious. Green consumers are frustrated by the time it takes to change over to a green social economy, but applaud anyone’s and any company’s efforts to go green.

Coca-Cola has taken a giant step in the green direction, and now we wait for other companies to join in. 

Forms of invasive branding
Those in the marketing and graphic design fields that have worked on brands won’t be surprised – branded golf holes, branded urinals, fake bloggers and even branded beach sand are uncovered as examples of branding going too far. Conley doesn’t say that we don’t need branding – he’s not one of those who think everything should be “no logo, no brand” – but in Conley’s view branding has become more of a Band-Aid or a solution to inferior products instead of companies actually fixing the broken product. He criticizes executives for becoming “so focused on the strength of the all-encompassing idea — the brand — that they ignore the physical properties that compose it.”

Conley gives numerous examples of forms of invasive branding that threaten people’s understanding of life and culture. He asks “What does it mean when our ‘sense of meaning’ and our ‘sense of identity’ are shaped by someone trying to sell us something?”

After talking with a branding fundamentalist, Conley notes “The more he describes branding, the more it appears to consist entirely of vague idealism and seemingly vain efforts to create something meaningful and permanent of what is often superfluous and transient. The simpler the product, the more Byzantine the branding seems.”

Watch out for Cincinnati
Conley doesn’t see the ad agencies as being the people behind all of this. In fact, he writes that branding has “superseded the advertising industry, either claiming advertising outright or dictating the message that advertisers are allowed to deliver. Increasingly, marketing has also become a division of branding.” He also has no qualms pointing fingers: apparently, Cincinnati, Ohio is a hotbed of professional invasive branders.

Watch out graphic designers!
Conley ties branding into graphic design pretty plainly for designers: people don’t understand design – they don’t “get” it. But clients “get” branding. They get the idea that a brand can make their product better, more appealing to consumers. So, to many companies, graphic design is to follow branding; that is – graphic designers should design for the brand, instead of the other way around.

The branding problem
Conley says the problem with branding is that “...branding, when it’s consistent, provides us with clarity and simplicity in a progressively hectic world. But branding has become unhinged from its initial principles, and its aims have become increasingly exaggerated and warped.”

I’d like to think that there are still some companies left that grow their brands organically – that is, without lies, exaggerations and such. Some companies do it the old-fashioned way – their brand builds with real word-of-mouth (not the 7% of mothers that are compensated for WOM marketing, as Conley states) and real customer service. Oh yeah, and a quality product.

But, unfortunately I see Conley’s take as being all too real for more and more companies. As Publisher’s Weekly states: “Conley's perspective on branding's encroachment into social areas is as alarming as it is stimulating.”

It can be tough trying to help the environment when you’re printing materials on one of its most valuable resources. Besides all the paper we use, the inks are also harmful to the ozone layer, what with all the VOCs released into the air while the ink is drying.

But designers have printing options. One is to go with an environmentally friendly printer. Online printing companies like PrintPlace.com have established sustainability systems that decrease waste and support environmental responsibility. Any printer can take steps toward being more environmentally responsible, oftentimes without upping the prices of its products significantly. I don’t know about you, but I’d pay a few cents extra to know that the paper product I’m designing is going to be printed without as much harm to the Earth as traditional printing methods.

Here are some ways that printers can be more environmentally friendly:

Use FSC certified or SFI certified paper. The Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies that the paper comes from responsibly managed forests and verified recycled sources. FSC certified forests are under strict environmental and social standards and the tree fiber from these forests are tracked all the way to the consumer, including mills, pulp providers, merchants and printers must all follow the strict guidelines. FSC certification ensures that printers are doing the right thing and it takes business away from other companies that may be supporting unsustainable and illegal logging practices.

The Sustainable Forest Initiative is one of the largest in the world and promotes the same behavior as the FSC, but also includes measures to protect wildlife habitat, endangered species and water quality. The SFI requires all harvested areas be reforested promptly.

Use vegetables-based inks. Vegetable-based inks reduce the amount of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) released into the air. VOCs react with nitrogen oxides to form ozone. This lower level ozone from VOCs contributes to smog formation. Ozone is needed in the upper atmosphere, but in the lower level atmosphere, ozone is a lung irritant, which can cause health problems for people, animals and plants.

Vegetable oils are a renewable resource, and the pigment often used in these oils can be toxic. Certain colors of ink contain heavy-metal pigments like barium and copper, which are associated with various health problems. Printers can use certain colors that don’t have these heavy-metal pigments.

Other Ways Printers Can Be More Environmentally Friendly:

• Use water-based aqueous coatings
• Recycle all paper waste
• Use 100% recyclable shipping cartons
• Pack shipping cartons with 100% recyclable material
• Recycle metal printing plates, inks and solvents
• Use three-phase lighting to reduce power costs up to 50%  

The cavewomen chasing the shoes is just brilliant to me – take something old and tweak it to make it new. This could be used in so many ways – from something like how people gathered to listen to the radio are now listening to podcasts to leaving Santa gluten-free cookies. A new twist on an old idea works well because people are already familiar with the concept, and if you tweak it right, you’re seen as a genius.

A ridiculous image always works well in ads. Something that makes people look twice because there’s no way this could be real, yet it looks so real, is key to grabbing people’s attention. Of course, a ridiculous image won’t work if it isn’t done right – meaning the lighting is wrong, or if the image is scaly or fuzzy – but an image like this strawberry on this person made me look twice. It helps that the strawberry and chocolate look quite yummy!

Another technique that works well is making an image out of another image. Making a car out of what at first looks to be a bush, for instance, can be a real attention-getter. The key is to design the image so that it looks like something is slightly “off” but the viewer has to look closer to figure out what it is. Take a look at this ad for Reach toothbrush.

At first it just looks like a chicken with ridiculously long legs (hey, a ridiculous image!). But then you see that the legs and body look like gums on a top row of teeth. That makes me appreciate the ad, and makes me go in for a closer look to the writing: “Your teeth can hide many things.” I especially love this one because who doesn’t get chicken stuck in their teeth? And the chicken’s plucked body is about the color of gums.

Lastly, this Canon ad struck me as brilliant.

The camera comes with an image stabilizer, which makes the use of a tripod not necessary because the user is the tripod. I love the legs and how the user can imagine himself out in the wild with no use for lugging around heavy camera equipment just to get a great shot. All he needs is himself, which gives the user confidence, but at the same time says “this camera is all you need.” Very smart indeed. Not only is this a ridiculous image to first capture attention, but it also instills strength in the consumer, which of course, every ego wants. Feeding people’s egos always works well in ads as with anything else in life.

M&M Faces
M&M Faces is a service launched last spring that allows people to upload photos to be printed right on the little chocolates. The Christmas M&Ms are red, green and white and you can get a photo printed on them and “Ho Ho Ho” or “Happy Holidays” on the other side.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has even partnered with M&M to give consumers DIY instructions on how to use these personalized M&MS in wish jars, “snack sacks” and even incorporate them into tree ornaments. The Web site www.mymms.com/Martha has the Martha instructions. “My M&Ms”, as the holiday product is called, will be featured on the Martha Stewart Show. This multiplatform approach should help M&M reach many target audiences.

My M&Ms is also reaching out to baseball lovers – My M&Ms has a licensing arrangement with Major League Baseball Properties, which means you can order M&Ms with the logos and colors of any of MLB’s 30 teams.

You can also choose from 22 individual colors at Mymmm.com, or you can choose a blend – 3 to 5 different M&M colors in one batch. And with the way color affects people’s psyches, the colors you choose for your M&M gift can set the holiday season just right. For instance, if you choose blue M&Ms, you can expect your recipients to feel relaxed and serene.

Business M&Ms
So what does this mean for marketing pros? Well there’s also a Business M&M, of which you can get your logo printed on one side of the candy and a short message on the other side.

You can order business M&Ms from http://www.mymms.com/business/. Here are some ideas for how to use them to market your business: 

• You can give out business M&Ms in little pretty gift bags as a Christmas gift for customers that drop by your store.
• You can order personalized packaging and hand them out at trade shows.  
• You can hand them out right in front of your store (especially if you have foot traffic around lunch or dinner time!).
• You can leave them on tables at sponsored events – like at a charity auction or corporate dinner.
• Include a package on each gift you give to families and friends (I see nothing wrong with encouraging business from those close to you! And, if you give them extras, they can give them out to their friends.)
• Offer them as dessert or appetizer at any holiday party you’re hosting or attending. 

These are a great way to have some fun while spreading the word about your company. And if you go for the personalized packaging, after people eat their treat, they can stuff the empty package in their pocket to remind them later to contact your company. 

Do keep the design simple. Use clean lines, and one or two colors max (unless you have more colors in your logo – it’s okay for your logo to be in full color). Use lots of white space, or empty space, so as not to clutter the design. If you put too much text and design in a small space like a business card, it will be hard to read.

Do update your cards with new information. If you have a change of address, title, phone number – whatever, you need to update your cards. Scribbling out the old address to put in the new doesn’t look professional and could cost you a client. It also says “I’m too cheap to buy new business cards,” which is not an image you want to convey.

Don’t let your business cards sit around in a holder all the time. The point of getting business cards is to distribute them, right? Don’t leave your business cards at home or in your office when you’re going out – have some with you at all times. Leave them on the counter of coffee shops. Hang them on community bulletin boards. Get them into people’s hands.

Don’t ignore the back of your card. It’ll cost you a little extra, but putting some useful info on the back of your card will help to keep it from being thrown in the trash. You can put a 3-month calendar, emergency phone numbers, cooking measurements (if you’re in the cooking business) or any other kind of useful on the back, you’ve given people another reason to keep your card.

Don’t print your own business cards. Many people use the perforated cards that you can print at home on an inkjet printer. These cards often look unprofessional and people can feel the perforations around the card. That screams “homemade.” Spend another $10 or $20 to get it done right the first time with an online printing company. You can get professional quality business cards for little more than the DIY home kits. It’s well worth it.

But to impress prospects, you must have a business card that is different. Innovative. Unique. I’m going to give you some ideas of great designs that you can tweak to create your own distinctive design. Hopefully some of these ideas will spark a great idea for your revamped business cards.

Use the Back for Something Useful

One great idea is to use the back of the card for important info. This will give prospects a reason to keep your card when they otherwise wouldn’t, plus you are seen as helpful for including this info on your card. A common design technique is to include a 3-month or 6-month calendar on the back. (1-year calendars just don’t fit well on traditional business cards.) Another idea to is to list local emergency phone numbers, like for the nearest hospitals, fire stations, poison control hotlines, etc. There’s nothing wrong with this at all.  

But if you are in an industry that allows you to give helpful info that is connected to your industry, all the better! This makes your card tailored to your industry and helpful. For instance, a chef or cooking instructor could include cooking measurements on the back of her business card (1 cup = 8 oz.; 3 tsp. = 1 Tbsp.). That’s something I would keep around! Or, as seen here, a guitar instructor could include basic guitar chord fingerings for students. Any kind of music teacher could include fingerings for most instruments.

Make Your Card Interactive

Now, this type of technology isn’t widespread yet, mostly because each card costs $25 each, but it’s a cool notion of what’s to come. You can include a short video clip into your business card! How cool is that? The client has no time for an in-person demonstration? No problem! He can watch the demonstration at his leisure by whipping out your business card! According to Gizmodo, the rCard: Fully Interactive Business Card “plays video and comes with a 1.875" x 1.875" full color flat screen, speakers, a navigational button, 1 gig of memory, and a USB port. The battery on it is as thin as a postage stamp and lasts about 4 hours of continuous use, but there's a rechargeable battery option, and you can power it off and on. The whole thing only measures 2" x 3" and weighs a measly 2 ounces.”

Now if that doesn’t impress you, I can’t help you!

You may not be able to afford a video business card, but you could use a holographic image, metallic lettering or a clear plastic card. The design includes the card’s material and you don’t have to limit yourself to cardstock. If you have the budget, go for something new and unusual – recycled cans, wood – whatever is related to your industry.