The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the workplace as we once knew it. Gone are the days of face-to-face meetings and crowded spaces—at least for the foreseeable future. Businesses need solutions that address the current climate, while also maintaining safety guidelines as recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), such as social distancing and wearing facial coverings.
As print providers continue to adapt and settle into the “new normal,” they will need to meet customer and market needs, while also prioritizing the safety and well-being of their employees and customers. With this in mind, we offer some helpful, cost-effective tips to help business professionals communicate while also increasing brand awareness effectively during this transition.
Utilize Free Template Posters and Signage
Many businesses, especially smaller ones, have faced severe challenges over the past few months. One way many companies and creators in our industry are helping them (and in turn, giving back to their communities) is by sharing template materials to help them get back on their feet. Print shops like Dorado Graphix in Jacksonville, Florida, are printing banners and posters for local small businesses to advertise their hours and drive foot traffic.
Solutions such as Canon’s PosterArtist Lite software (available as a download at no additional charge with compatible devices) give print providers designs and poster templates to work from. They can be used to highlight COVID-19 guidelines, personalize signs to include brand names and messaging, or even create their own. They’re ideal for wall and floor displays, as well as signs for a variety of venues and applications, to provide customers with safety information, including CDC guidelines on hand washing, face coverings and social distancing. Specifically, this signage can also be useful for retail and hospitality businesses to promote industry-specific information such as curbside pickup, hours of operations and maximum capacity, as well as for educational institutions to promote safety practices and directional signage.
Businesses wouldn’t even have to outsource to produce high-quality prints—they can easily create and customize affordable designs in-house. This becomes even-more important when we understand that 76% of Americans say the quality and graphics of print is most important in capturing their attention.1
Embrace the Power of Print and Digital Coming Together
When it comes to print, digital communications are not the enemy—both could (and should) be working in parallel. In fact, more than half of participants in a study said that they are more likely to notice a print ad than an online ad which they scroll right through.1 Especially now, as businesses look to maximize efficiencies, print continues to serve as an active, necessary channel, specifically for targeted advertising. But the real win for businesses is helping customers bring together print and digital in an economical way that allows flexible, nimble organizations to adjust to print-on-demand requirements.
One way this is made possible is through QR codes, a cost-effective option that helps promote touchless communication, which is especially important in the current climate. For those less familiar, QR codes are a type of barcode, readable by mobile devices, that direct people to an online location with more information.
Using QR codes has become particularly popular with businesses while most people are staying home. Through mailed promotional flyers that contain a personalized QR code, businesses can promote their hours and additional details about how they’re operating in today’s new environment. These integrated campaigns can also provide valuable marketing data on which customers have visited the website via the QR code. The food-and-beverage industry has been quick to use them for adapting to more of a contactless interaction, displaying printed QR codes on tables for patrons to easily and safely access menus and even make payments.
Be Creative
If you have extra paper and equipment lying around your office, don’t let them sit there and collect dust—get creative! As businesses look to stand out amongst competitors and boost profitability, some are thinking outside the box to come up with brand-awareness marketing ideas and business strategies to meet current customer needs. In fact, according to an April 2020 Gartner study, several companies have even shifted from selling products and services to help customers through the crisis.
Despite the challenges some small businesses have faced, many, such as Milwaukee’s West Allis Blue, have used this as an opportunity to explore their creativity and new areas of business. Seeing a need to help teachers and students during a time of remote learning, the company has provided teachers with creative, fun projects students can do while at home through its imagePROGRAF printers. These printers produce educational packets, which include 10 pages of different coloring activities, maps, crossword puzzles and word searches.
As many Americans believe the text (50%), content (49%) and quality (48%) are the most important features in making print materials stand out,1 look to ways you can help your local businesses transition as they reopen. This may be through producing outdoor signage and synthetic menus to support restaurants with curbside pickup and dining, or creating social distancing related posters—the possibilities are endless.
In conclusion, businesses across the globe have been presented with challenges of all shapes and sizes. But what matters is how they have been able to overcome those obstacles to create new brand-awareness-driving opportunities. Business professionals: continue to take this as a time to explore new skills and areas of your business. Take advantage of custom templates and the power of digital and print coming together, while also exploring your creativity, to come up with solutions designed to help customers navigate through these challenging times.
