Friday, October 17, 2008

Promos and freebies go hand in hand...

Up until recently, I've never purchased business cards or anything else for that matter from Vista Print. I'd heard enough bad things about them on the etsy forums, not to give them my business. But, as times have been tight lately, and me needing to get new business cards before the holiday rush begins, I turned to Vista Print, to check out their 'free' business card section, and to my surprise, I was quite impressed.

I ordered up a simple set of 250 free business cards, and payed the additional $3.99 for a blank back, selected the cheapest/slowest shipping, and went along my merry way.



While I was waiting for my cards to come (and they got here a lot faster than the 21 days they tell you for the 'cheap' shipping...) I found a post on a blog of a great friend of mine, AlwaysAmy about not only taking advantage of the free business card section, but also using up some of the other freebies they offer as well... and using them for promos. Even better yet, spending the few extra bucks to add your own photos to them, rather than using the free graphics they offer, you can really dress up a free promotional item from Vista Print pretty easily and make the most of it, to use for your own promos.



Now, I know there are some people who use Vista Print, and some who don't. Some who like them, and some who don't. But, the idea here, is to look beyond the boring freebies some of these business card companies offer, and change them up to make them more useful for your own good. Nothing wrong with taking advantage of free or otherwise inexpensive resources that are available to us, especially when times are tight.

And, one last thought before I go. I've also seen some people use business cards, be they printed from a printing company, or done from your home computer... as ingredient/label inserts for soap packaging too. So there's another inexpensive idea on how we can turn something ordinary, into something useful.

Have a great weekend all!

Janell

3 comments:

KreatedbyKarina said...

I love VistaPrint and have used them for years...just recently I scored $116.00 worth of promotional material for absolutely free using their offers--I paid just $21.00 shipping!

It pays to take advantage of their "free deals" as you can choose as many free items as you want, and not just regulated to picking only one.

Yes, some people say they are scammed later on--I just phone their customer service department after each sale to ensure I'm not signed up for any of their "clubs" and it's all good~

Swan Mountain Soaps said...

I love Vista Print. I like to get free magnets to hand out with large sales at craft shows, and people who seem like they really want to buy from my shop later (say if they are looking for something I normally carry in my shop but didn't bring to the show). I got a couple t-shirts and baseball caps with my logo for me and my daughter to wear at shows too. I haven't had any problems with them yet, and free is always good!

Me said...

Vistaprint is great. I always get my cards from them and I just had 100 postcards printed up for free with a coupon on them. I give them out with all my orders and write a thank you note on the back.