You must give prospects a reason to look at your website.

Create a valuable special offer they can only access online. Make a strong, clear “pitch”. Put it in form of a "valuable coupon", something like this:

"Get $40 off your next purchase when you register online."

This encourages your prospect to keep handout, and also encourages them to respond by going to your website and having another close look at your special offer.

Tie in your online registration form with an autoresponder. So now when somebody registers online, they will automatically be sent a series of messages over a period of weeks or months. This is a perfect way to keep in touch with your prospects without having to worry about it. The system takes care of it for you. All you do is fine-tune messages and handle sales enquiries.

A "system" like this gives you an automatic advantage over your not-so-organized competitors. What could be better than that?

Handouts that Stick Around After Party Promoting with Autoresponders

Lower end ink jet printers are sometimes used to print on vinyl. The problem with this process is that inks are usually "dye-based". The bottom line is that these inks are meant for indoor applications and short term outdoor use. Normally they are quickly faded by UV from sun, and they are also susceptible to scratching and water will damage image. Some suppliers try to overcome these problems by "UV-laminating" vinyl after it is printed — coating vinyl with a clear laminate designed to protect surface. This adds significantly to production costs, takes additional time, makes finishing more difficult, and is still an inferior product when compared to vinyl printed with legitimate solvent inks.

When you're ordering a vinyl banner for outdoor use, or one that you hope will last a couple of years, you're best bet is to go with a true solvent ink process. Especially when there is no significant price difference. If you don't, you will be disappointed. Non-solvent inks do not resist sunlight or moisture, and scratch easily.

Some equipment manufacturers (especially Roland) have marketed machines that use a "solvent-like" ink. They claim these solvent-light products have all features of solvent ink without drawbacks (solvent machines are more expensive and inks harder to work with). But in our experience — yes, we got burned with one of these over-priced machines — product just does not stand up. The surface is much too soft and therefore scratches easily.

Other manufacturers (e.g., HP, Epson, Colorspan) have tried for years to create water-based inks that have durability of solvent. But, we have tried all of these systems, and our experience is that they just do not cut it.

So when you're ordering a vinyl banner for outdoor use, or one that you hope will last a couple of years, your best bet is to go with a true solvent ink process. Especially when there is no significant price difference.

For more information, go to America-Banners.com or Tradeshow-Display-Experts.com