Here’s a story about the importance of being careful with your words. One day, a teacher brought two apples to school. Before the children arrived to class, the teacher repeatedly dropped one of the apples on the floor, although it wasn’t visible, and both apples looked perfect.

The teacher asked the children to talk about the apples and describe them. Many children said they looked the same: both were red, they were of similar size, and they looked delicious enough to eat.

Then the teacher picked up the apple that he dropped earlier and told the children how he disliked that apple. He said it was disgusting and ugly, and he asked the children to start calling the apple names. The children were hesitant at first, but quickly passed the apple around the circle calling it names and telling the apple it was smelly, gross, ugly, and other unkind words.

Then the teacher passed around the other apple and asked everyone to say kind words to it. The kids called it beautiful, delicious, and tasty.When the teacher cut the apples open, the apple they were nice to was crispy, fresh, and juicy inside.

However, the apple they were unkind to was bruised, brown, and mushy inside. The children quickly realized that this is what happens inside us when someone mistreats us with unkind words.

Here’s the way I see it: Always be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.

If you’re looking for a way to gain a better understanding of your business and marketing strategy, conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis.

S.W.O.T. is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. By recognizing both positive and negative factors that affect your business, you can compare your business to the competition and use the results to improve your marketing strategy and messaging.

Here are a few guides to keep in mind when creating your S.W.O.T. analysis:

• S. - Strengths describe the positive attributes to your organization, such as an experienced team, reputation, patented products, lifetime warranty, and established customer base.


• W. - Weaknesses are factors that are within your control that reduce your competitive edge, such as poor location, inferior products, lack of technology, or limited resources.


• O. - Opportunities refer to external chances for your business to grow and prosper. Opportunities can include market growth, lifestyle changes, or the ability to offer greater value that will create a demand for your services.


• T. - Threats include external factors beyond your control, such as competition, political decisions, economic downturns, consumer trends, or government regulations.

After completing your S.W.O.T. analysis, you should not only work to improve your weaknesses but also ensure your marketing materials highlight your strengths.

If your marketing materials need a facelift, our creative team would love to help! Remember, other printers may be nearby, but nobody comes close.

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Have you ever wished your business card could provide more value than just your contact details? The good news is it can!

A folded business card can provide the professional appearance of a traditional business card, plus an extra panel or two for added value and useful information.

When designing a folded business card, consider using the extra space to offer something useful that your recipients will use often, such as a list of helpful resources, an events schedule, frequent customer discounts, or even a loyalty punch card.

A third panel can turn your business card into a mini-billboard advertisement, or it can be designed as a convenient tear-away coupon.

Another unique way to grab attention is by designing your card with an uneven folded panel, which allows you to showcase information without opening the front of the card. This can be a fun way to offer a teaser or showcase important information.

If you’d like help designing the perfect folded business card that will help you stand apart from the competition, visit us online today!

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While there are a plethora of images available online, you should confirm that you can use an image before using it in your marketing materials or sharing on social media, since images can be copyrighted or have a license with specific guidelines for usage.

Another benefit of locating the original source is that you may find alternate sizes (perhaps in a higher resolution) or different orientations of the image.

Instead of searching with keywords, here are three popular reverse image search engines to consider:

• Google – easily upload an image or search by image URL.


• Bing – allows you to find similar images, pinpoint locations, identify dog breeds, and much more.


• Tin Eye - find out where an image came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or if there is a higher resolution version.

If you have questions about recommended image resolution sizes for printing, give us a call today – we’d be happy to help.

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