10 Ways To Ensure Your Flyer Avoids The Bin

You want your flyers to travel all over town, only you’d    probably prefer it wasn’t in the dustcart or stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe. What steps can you take to avoid this?

Here’s a few hints and tricks to help your flyers avoid the trash:

1. Don’t miss the boat before you start. Double-check local

Fresher’s week an…

Flyers are an excellent marketing tool to promote a club night or event. They are commonly used for student promotions throughout the country.

You want your flyers to travel all over town, only you’d    probably prefer it wasn’t in the dustcart or stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe. What steps can you take to avoid this?

Here’s a few hints and tricks to help your flyers avoid the trash:

1. Don’t miss the boat before you start. Double-check local

Fresher’s week and 2005/06 term dates with your local universities, as they vary nationwide.

2. Make sure there’s a reason for students to keep your  flyers. Can you include a drinks’ promotion, discount or special offer in the copy?

3. Always include the key facts. Students need to know what,

when, why, how and where. List all relevant info, such as prices, times, dates, venue or address, contact details and your url.

4. Always double check your spelling and grammar before you

go to print.

5. It may sound obvious but do a spot check on the reliability

of your delivery agents. You’ve got a great deal on print, don’t blow it with distribution.

6. Remember to leave your flyers in the places where your target student hangs out, read Meet the students for some helpful placement ideas.

7. Strong visuals or topical humour help students to remember

your promotion. They may even stick your flyer on their bedroom wall; beats the Simon Cowell poster their mum bought them for Christmas.

8. Ask a few local students their opinion of your sample flyer

designs to see which one has the most market appeal.

9. Want to increase sales and profit? Handing out the flyer

yourself can maximise your budget. Your personal enthusiasm and a friendly face can work wonders.

10. Er, try not to stand near a bin.

Known as Li Yuese in traditional Chinese, Needham proposed a book in 1948 to the Cambridge University Press. The book was entitled “Science and Civilisation in China”, which then comprises of volumes that deal with the history of science and technology in China. The book mentioned a lot of Chinese inventions from A to Z, but I am considering these four inventions to be the greatest contribution of science and technology today.  

Paper. People in China had widely use paper as a writing medium at 3rd century, but ancient wrapping and padding had been discovered dating back to 2nd century. This simply means that they had invented paper much earlier. According to history, for the period of Han dynasty (202 BC – AD220), papermaking process had been invented. It is known that papermaking was established by Cai Lun, using a combination of [boiled mulberry bark, hemp, old linens, and fish nets. – (Wikipedia)]. These blended materials were then minced and became a sticky stuff which then be added to water.  A frame made of stitched twigs was submerged to the mixture and dried under sunlight. Additional dripping and refining were the finishing touches.

Compass. Back in Han dynasty, it is believed that Chinese were started using lodestone that can point north and south. The compass looks like a ladle in a bowl, which Chinese consider the handle as a turning point. Further, it was also known that another compass was used as guide with chariots. It is believed that the compass was made of a fish-shape heated iron or steel which was placed in a bowl of water that can produce magnetic force.

Gunpowder. Gunpowder was widely used in China within the [Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period – Wikipedia]. It was used as mixture of recipes for fireworks, ammo for trebuchet and cannonball. Gunpowder recipes are very useful during battle of different empires.

Printing.  The earliest form of this was woodblock printing. Evidences have been discovered through excavation from tombs and temples. The first woodblock printed book is the Diamond Sutra created from Tang Dynasty.  The second form of printing was the movable type. The first model was made of clay characters which then replaced by woods. The two materials were improvised into [arranged written characters by rhyme scheme on the surface of roundtable compartments. – Wikipedia]. It was then during Ming Dynasty that the characters were replaced by metals (bronze).  As centuries passed, the movable type printing was work on vitreous enamel.

As of today, the concepts of these inventions have been a foundation of improving modern civilization. Because of these concepts, the world had created better, almost perfect technologies that are useful for daily routine of different people. 

1.      Love notes.

Handwritten ones, of course, are best, but they don’t have to be massive, elaborate declarations of love every time. A cute post-it note here and there, left on the mirror in the bathroom, on their cereal box, on the fridge. So simple, but lovely. You could be really dedicated and look into printing some sweet custom notepads or stationary especially for the purpose, maybe with specific phrases and funny anecdotes of your choice.

2.      Flowers, but for no reason.

It’s a sad reality that the most frequent times we see flowers are around Valentine’s Day, or on birthdays, weddings or funerals. They usually make an appearance early on in the dating scene, but sadly become less frequent as the relationship progresses. It is time to change this! Not only are flowers easy to come by and add a nice touch to your home, they are a simple, unmistakable way to say “I love you.”

3.      Breakfast in bed.

Again, this is something that seems to be reserved for special occasions only. Why not try to make it your Sunday routine? It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate or require much effort: you could do something as simple as reheating frozen crepes or waffles with strawberries and cream…maybe adding a bottle of bubbles for an extra special touch. What a wonderful way to start the day!

4.      Date nights.

When you live together it’s common to find that, because you see each other all the time, you don’t make the effort as much to go out like you used to when you first met. Maybe you have “boys” and “girls” nights out with friends…that’s great but, if you aim for a date night at least once a fortnight, and take turns in the organising of said date…it’ll really help to keep the romance and excitement alive. Just be careful that both of you take these date nights seriously, and try not to let them get hijacked when other commitments come up.

5.      Remember the good times.

Go through all the photos you have together and do something special with them to make them last. Use printing services to create a glossy book of that special holiday away, create a fabulous poster with all your favourite pictures and put it in a beautiful frame, or go visit your nearest art store and do some good old fashioned scrap booking. Having constant reminders of all the amazing times you’ve shared together will create positive energy around the house and help you both cherish your time together.

6.      Say “I love you.”

No explanation needed here. Just say it! And often!

1.      Guerilla advertising.

This works especially well in a university or school environment but there’s no reason it can’t work for any event. Guerilla advertising can be done on minimal budget and needs lot of time and lots of creativity. The idea is to come up with something attention grabbing that at first glance isn’t immediately obvious: on a second take, readers will see information where they can find out more.

Ideas for this could be something as simple as drawing with chalk on the footpath, plastering a crazy amount of post-it notes somewhere in a cool design, or printing special stickers and just getting really creative with where you are placing them: bathrooms, rubbish bins, traffic light pole, etc. If you have a good amount of time before the date of your event and really want to generate some buzz, this is a great, fun strategy.

2.      Create a Facebook event.

It may not be the most exciting of the ideas on this list, but it’s a sensible, sure fire way to get the word out. Either create the event yourself, or use your business page to promote the event. Invite everyone you know, and then take it a step further: Call on others to help you get the word out: you could even sweeten the deal by creating a competition around who helps you get the most new attendees.

Don’t be shy to ask other business pages if they would mind sharing your event with their followers too (more about this in tip number 3). The great thing about Facebook events is that they give you an indication of numbers, although probably the best way to estimate is to take that number of “attending” and halve it.

3.      Sponsors and networking.

Have a think about who else might get something out of you event being successful. For example, if your business is a hair salon, and you are holding a client evening: maybe the girls at the make-up store across the road would be keen to advertise and create a partnership? Maybe your local radio station will be happy to help spread the word in return for your promoting them at the event?

You don’t need to worry about losing focus from your main purpose, but if you are willing to make a little compromising then you could seriously expand the amount of people you reach. And as a bonus, you have new contacts for later, who may call on you to help with their future events also.

4.      Great Flyers and Posters.

Don’t underestimate the power of good old-fashioned promotion: flyers and posters that are informative and eye-catching are certainly effective. It’s important to make sure you have an attention grabbing design and that you’ve used decent printing services so your flyers stand out from the rest.

It all comes down to how well you go about handing these out, of course. Stop by your local shops and cafes and ask if they don’t mind you putting up a poster or having some flyers on the bench. Waiting till the actual day of your event is the best time to look at handing out the remaining flyers to pedestrians on the street: most people just take a glance and then shove the flyer in their pocket or in the bin: avoid this by ensuring your flyer stands out and by using them more effectively.  

5.      Get creative with a theme.

An easy, effective way to attract attention: plan your event around a theme that is crazy, silly, scandalous or controversial. People love to talk, so give them something to talk about! You’ll attract a number of people who are simply too curious and want to find out more. The only downside here is that it’ll make it a little harder to target your specific audience – but if your key focus is number of people, start wracking your brain and once you’ve come up with an idea – you’re halfway there. Link it to the event somehow and you’ll have people lining the doors to get in.

How Printing has Impacted our Society

In the mid 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg invented a tool that would eventually change how we live and perform many things in our daily lives.  He invented the printing press.  Before this time people would manually have to write everything.  This made having books a treasure, only owned by the wealthy.  Besides the long process in writing or copying one book, very few people were skilled enough to even write.  With the introduction of this technology it allowed people to produce hundreds of books with great ease and precision.  This press affected our society in many ways, especially our Cultural and Economic ways of living.

            The invention of printing has affected our culture thorough newspapers and books.  Before there was a collection of books and newspaper at the fingertips of the people, people were not informed in occurring events or did not have the pleasure of reading as many of us do today.  Without newspapers people would be unable to communicate with the public on various events happening around them.  Now with the abundance of newspapers people are able to have this information every day.                                 Also, books provided a wealth of knowledge now easily obtainable to everyone.  Before, only the rich were able to go to school to learn to read and write.  Now every kid is allowed to go to school and learn, providing a better future.

            People with a vast amount of knowledge now can easily make and produce books for the public, both for enjoyment and education.  Without printing, no text books, which kids use in school, would be produced.  Now people can learn from others’ knowledge through the reading of books.  Also, since everyone can learn to read, many people take of the simple joy of reading as their hobby.  Whether it’s an intense mystery or a breathtaking adventure people love reading.

Not only has printing affected our Culture, but also out Economy.  Many things people purchase are made with this life-changing invention, which otherwise, without it, would not be possible.   

Without printing we would not have paper money.  Our country and many other countries use paper money as their main source of currency.  Printing now allows us to make millions of bills every single day as our economies’ need increases. (http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-many-dollar-bills-are-made-every-day/18217993)

            In addition, with the printing of newspaper, businesses have used it as a form of advertisement.  You now see ads for various items in the newspaper to encourage customers to come in and buy from their store, or it may advertise special offers or an opening of a new store. 

            In conclusion, the printing press has impacted both our culture and economy.  Things such as newspapers, books, paper money, etc. would not be achievable without the press.  Without newspapers we would have limited access to local and global news, it also provides a source of advertisement for businesses and retailers.  With paper money it allows the government to produce many bills, as the economy increases allowing for an easy way of trade.  Finally with books, it provides an abounding source of knowledge and enjoyment in reading.  All the credit should go to Johannes Gutenberg, as without this invention many things we do every day would not be possible

The appearance of a particular product has a very important role to play in selling a product.  In today’s competitive world where there are plenty of innovative competitors all need to get your hands on really innovative options to sell their products face increasing competition.  As long as they make a profit in your company or product sales increase, and non-profit and prosper.  There are many interesting strategies for promoting and marketing that can be used to sell its products easier for consumers.  If you choose to print the stickers, you can be sure of the benefits and a significant improvement in sales.

A company should adopt intelligent strategies if they want to survive fierce competition prevalent there.  If a product similar to your niche is produced by other companies, will improve product appearance and presentation.  One of the best options that can be used for competitive differentiation is a good solution for printing labels.  Most companies do not pay much attention to labels that are used to highlight and promote products.  However, you will be able to use the beautiful white shirt with print on very well to differentiate their products effectively.

The appearance of the label can have a significant impact on the consumer or client.  There are many innovative printing solutions that have arisen around and can be used wisely to market and sell their products better than the competition for all.  With a quality label printing options, you will be able to make a name for yourself in this sector and help create awareness among the target audience.  You will be able to get blank labels to print large label manufacturers, and therefore can be used to their advantage.

With the help of a good company that offers high-quality printable stickers, can receive more services.  You will be able to use the most important design services barcodes, quality graphic design solutions and personal digital printing options apply to their specific needs.  Labels are provided by these printing solutions will be ideal for a wide range of surfaces and products show the product in a better light.  When you have beautiful white stickers printed for marking must be able to sell their products to many customers without any problems.

Their customers prefer to buy a product that was packaged and well designed, if a product is sold in more than one supplier.  If you are one of the many vendors involved in the sale of products where competition is great, you have to pack their products in an attractive really.  There are many creative strategies that can be used to sell the product better.  However, you will be able to achieve exceptional sales through the use of blank labels to print out the best product to be displayed in the rest.

                                              Image by LSE Library via Flickr

                  Born in 1897, Kingsley Brice Speakman Smellie was educated at a Dame School in England.

Education was very important in colonial days and everyone was expected to receive an education.   Women operated the Dame Schools out of their homes and did their chores while the children attended school.  Children learned what the children today learn in kindergarten as well as memorizing prayers.

 After a few years of this schooling, the girls learned how to do household chores such as sewing, needlework, spinning, and cooking, French, music, and art.  They then returned home and helped their mothers with household chores after they completed their schooling, while the boys went on to further their education so that they could learn how to run the plantations, or navigate ships.  The boys learned social etiquette, celestial navigation, and plantation management as well as the other school subjects of math, Latin, Greek, science, history, fencing, and geography.

The children of wealthy parents were sometimes sent to England for advanced study for careers in law or medicine.  However, the girls did not have an opportunity to engage in advanced study because they were expected to help their mothers around the house, get married and have a family of their own.

 Poor children, on the other hand, enrolled in apprenticeships for three to ten years instead of the education and religious instruction that the other children received.  This was to give them skills which would help them to make a living.  They could learn bookbinding, wig making, printing, or any craft such as silversmith, or cabinet making.

At night, they would receive their schooling in reading, writing, and arithmetic, paid for by the parents or the master.  In return for the work, the child received food, clothing and shelter.  At times, he would receive a few coins at the end of the year or a new suit, four shirts, and two “necklets” upon completion of the program.

Many children who served as apprentices did very well after serving heir contractual obligation.  John Hancock was an apprentice to a book binder and became wealthy after working for a number of years.  He had to serve at least seven years and had to have attained twenty-one years in order to open his own shop.  The exception to this was in the case of a widow who could operate the business upon her husband’s death. 

Slaves, were not permitted to have an education. However, some sympathetic women who saw potential in certain slaves, opted to educate them without their master’s knowledge, as in the case of Susie King Taylor.  She taught other newly liberated slaves how to read and write after her teacher, Mrs. Woodhouse educated her.

In conclusion, it appears that one’s financial status and gender determined the quality of education they would receive in colonial America.

 For more on the education of minorities, you may enjoy:

Writers Transcending All Odds

Ellen Turner was the only child of William Turner, as well as his printing business and owning mills he also held the position of High Sheriff of Cheshire. Edward Wakefield, 31 years old at that time planned to marry her for her inheritance. He had previously held positions of King’s messenger as well as being a diplomat. He had married a 17 year old heiress when he was just 20, they had eloped to Scotland. His wife died four years later and he received 70,000 pounds sterling from the wedding.

Wakefield was ambitious but he needed money, during his previous marriage he was suspected of perjury and forgery, though this was not proven. Wakefield sent his servant in a carriage to the boarding school where Ellen Turner was a pupil with a message that Miss Turner was to accompany the servant to go to her father as he had suffered an illness and required her presence immediately.

The carriage took them to Manchester where Wakefield was waiting, she was then informed that her fathers business had collapsed and he was to accompany him to Carlisle close to the Scottish border where her father was waiting having fled to escape his creditors.

A story was put to her that if she married Wakefield some of the funds in her fathers name would be transferred to her through Wakefield, Wakefield’s brother Edward was assisting him in the ruse and together the trio arrived in Scotland and the marriage took place.

On arriving back in Carlisle and wanting to see her father she was eventually taken to London where she had been told her father had a meeting. On arriving in London she was told her father had continued on to Paris and they should join him there. The next day they arrived in Calais.

In the meantime William Turner had received a letter from Wakefield informing him of the marriage, Wakefield had hoped that Turner would not want the public scandal and quietly accept the marriage. Turner went to London and using all his power quickly found the location of his daughter. Turner’s brother went to France with a police officer and a solicitor.

Wakefield made the claim that as they were married she could not be taken from him by force, the French police after interviewing her sent her back to England with her uncle. Wakefield was released by the French police and headed for Paris.

Warrants were issued for Wakefield’s arrest, when attempting to come back into the country a few days later he was arrested in Dover. He was taken to Cheshire and kept inside Lancaster Castle prison until his trial. He was later bailed for 2,000 pounds.

Wakefield’s servant, his stepmother and brother were all named as accomplices, the servant was still in France so was tried in absentia. The three Wakefield’s on trial all pled ‘not guilty’ the trial began on 23rd March 1827 and all were found guilty the same day and sent to Lancaster castle to await sentencing.

They were taken to London for sentencing on the 14th of May, the two brothers were each jailed for three years, their stepmother was released, the next day Parliament annulled the marriage.

When she was 17, Ellen Turner married a wealthy neighbour Thomas Legh, she died two years later during childbirth, her son survived. Her father William Turner was later elected as a Member of Parliament for Blackburn in Lancashire.

Edward Wakefield upon his release from prison was active in prison reform, he later became involved in colonial affairs and assisted in the development of South Australia, New Zealand and Canada. He played a major role in the colonization of New Zealand.

Surrounded,  as we are, by newspapers, flyers, text messages on our mobiles, and e-mails on our computers, our ability to make sense of the written word is somehow a given, taken for granted by every single one of us, nowadays, but so very long ago, in history, being taught the ability to read, and more especially to write, was a privilege only the wealthy few ever got access to.

When Elizabeth I was queen of England, not even one fifth of the population were able to sign their own names, yet these times were thought a golden age for literature. Before these times, very few people, other than the very wealthy, or the priesthood, were ever taught to read and write, and despite huge leaps forward in education over the centuries, there are still thought to be at least one billion illiterate people alive today.

Humanity has possessed the power of speech, it is thought, for at least fifty thousand years, though  writing appeared long after that, possibly about 9,000 years ago, for the first time, although this was not something any modern reader would classify as writing, clay tokens, bearing images of trade goods, beginning, around that time, in ancient Iraq, then known as Sumeria, to be traded for goods, by 3,300 BC, developing into a kind of pictorial alphabet, named the Cuneiform, which many people understood the meanings of.

 The foundation reasons, for the development of writing, were the need for religion and commerce to find means of communication with wider audiences. Cuneiform, as a language, is believed to have consisted of over 2,000 symbols, able to portray complex subjects, in understandable ways, to those who read the messages. The ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, first ever written story  that is known of in history, was written in Cuneiform. As with the Chinese language, Cuneiform was a language of symbolic pictures, ancient Egyptians developing ‘heiroglyphs’, through which they told stories, at around the same period in history

Hieroglyphs, however, were much simpler than Cuneiform, having only 24 symbols, originally and given the name of ‘sacred engraved writing’, by the Greeks 2,000 years later, and they were also used differently, recording events in history, usually, though it was not until the soldiers of Napoleon, at Luxor, Egypt, in 1799, discovered the ‘Rosetta Stone’, that scholars learned to understand the complexity of hieroglyphs, and translate them.

It was almost certainly the Phoenician society, of Western Asia,  that was responsible for the invention of the first alphabet, that is actually recognizable as such to us today, around 1700 BC.  The ‘Northern Semitic Alphabet’ consisting of 22 letters, all of which were consonants, without vowels, was probably the catalyst for all alphabets, that came to be  later developed around the world. Phoenicians created it , apparently ,to ease trade and communication between different cultures of the age..

Ancient Greeks did actually borrow from the Phoenician, Etruscan and Roman alphabets, helping to forge the links that came to exist with modern European writing.  Greeks were the ones,  who added vowels, to make language ‘more colorful’,  by all accounts, though the Roman alphabet is that which formed the roots of modern writing.

 In the British Isles, right uo to the 6th century, people still used the ‘Runes’ to talk to one another, a ‘language’ made up of 24 different symbols, origins unclear, even today.  Christian missionaries had introduced the Roman script, and by the 11th century, runes had all but disappeared. Roman alphabets had only 23 letters, because the W did not make an appearance before the middle ages, J and U developing out of I and V, becoming much more common in daily use, during the 17th century and beyond.

How though, did writing reach the public? Sumerians made their marks, in wet clay, baking the tablets in the sun, to harden.  Egyptians used a kind of reed to make papyrus, on which they would write another type of reed, ink composed of water, carbon and gum extracts being used. Romans first introduced mass publishing, by having teams of slaves laboriously copy works onto wax tablets,  for example 5,000 copies of works by the poet Martial

Copying became common practice, especially in monasteries, where the very act was regarded as of religious worship, many truly beautiful manuscripts being created by the monks. It was during the tenth century that oil-based inks made an appearance, two centuries after paper had started to come into the country, from China, where the screw press was already widely used for printing, arriving in Europe toward the end of the 13th century, and soon adopted.

Getting the written word out, to the general public, was still not possible, until 1450, when Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany invented the  first printing press, capable of employing movable type, on earth.  Chinese wooden block printing had been thought up, in the second century, but Gutenberg had a thorough knowledge of metallurgy, helping him make the breakthrough that had been so urgently needed.

The first book he produced was the now world-famous Gutenberg Bible, printed in Latin, around 1455, and before the advent of the digital age, the legacy of this amazing inventor was behind the printing, for consumption by the general public, of everything that appeared.  Writing was, by the 15th century, known round the world, but there is little doubt that Gutenberg’s press would herald a new dawn for reading material the masses could enjoy.

Those traders, of ancient times, and their stone tablets, deserve a real vote of thanks, having quite unwittingly, lit the spark, that led to our being able to sit back today, enjoying the pleasures of the written word, treasuring every moment. The entire world can be profoundly moved, by words on paper, and little else on earth is more attractive, or more powerful, than the written word, whatever message it conveys

Forms of getting Information

We all are aware of the direction print media is heading and that is down.  Afterall, we as Triond writers are all proving that as we produce online articles.   Less people are ordering newspapers, magazines, and books, and picking up kindle readers, smart phones, and using their computers to get their news.  I didn’t give this topic too much thought until I tried to order my favorite sports magazine and was told that it could no longer be ordered in print version.  It could be sent to me over the Internet though.  I declined this offer as it seemed to me if I wasn’t getting it in magazine form in the mail, I would be able to find some kind of equivalent to get my sporting news online. 

It is somewhat disappointing to me to see the newspaper business that has been such a vital news source to our society become in a sense obsolete.  This transition isn’t only being noticed in print media.  It can also be seen on news channels on television.  Who would have thought television could be replaced?  More and more people are checking weather updates on the Internet and getting play by play updates in sports on the IWeb as well.  Just twenty years ago news on television was viewed as the largest form of news for people.  Now it seems as if television is too slow for its viewers when they can learn of something right after it happens on the Internet.  

Communication (cell phones)

This, I also noticed fairly recently.  I had a few friends over to watch a football game on TV.  I recall looking up to talk to my friends about something when I noticed they were all preoccupied with their hand-held phones/devices.  It was kind of a schocker to me.  Not that we were all using such devices.  But the magnitude to which we need to be connected these days.  It seems as though we neglect the people around us in the same room and constantly need to be texting somebody else or talking on a social networking site.  It’s as if we aren’t satisfied with just the people around us and we have this constant need to branch off.  It is obvious that conversation used to have much more worth.  For most of my life I grew up with technology being very accessible and I can assure you of that. 

Large Scale Technology

Even for someone who grew up with technology very accessible to me, it is a bit scary to me what is possible today.  We have Air force planes that fly unmanned and follow missions to the dot.  We have machines running entire companies.  We can go to the grocery store and buy our groceries in a bulliding that requires very few employees to be run.  As a high school senior it quite frankly scares me a little to be going into a world that is in essence saying we are constantly trying to find a machine or device that can make you obsolete.  Some would view that as a little dramatic but the proof is all around us. 

It would be tedious to name all the great and amazing things that modern technology has done for our society.  My aim isn’t to prove that technology is a bad thing.  I just felt like it was something that needed to be said because of recent events in my life and things that occurred to me in my thoughts.  Technology in theory is a great thing but as I see some of the affects it has on society it makes me think twice at times.  I would like to hear your stance on my topic below.  Thanks for reading!