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Comparing Direct to Garment Printing with Heat Transfer Printing

Direct to Garment

Direct to garment printing, also known as DTG printing, is a method of digitally printing an image directly onto cotton textiles using specialised digital inkjet printing technology.  

DTG inkjet garment printing is generally considered the more economical, faster, and cleaner than traditional screen printing methods for small to medium runs. It allows t-shirt designers the opportunity to create not only one of a kind masterpieces or small production runs - regardless of the number of colours - without having to create film positives, stretching screens, and using chemicals to reclaim screens.

Unlike most other printing techniques that apply ink on top of the material, DTG injects colour pigments into the fibres of the fabric. This generally means that when you touch the finished product the feel will be softer because it’s part of the fabric.

DTG will also enable the your designs to be as intricate as you require blended with the garment.

While there is advancements into Poly cotton blends, DTG printing still works best in our experience at the moment with 100% natural fibres such as cotton, bamboo or hemp. 

Some Benefits of Direct to Garment  Printing

  • light-weight, high resolution colour prints including photographic artwork - (we find not as vibrant as Heat Transfer process)
  • Compatible only with 100% natural fibres only such as cotton, bamboo or hemp.
  • Can be a softer feel than heat transfer process, 
  • Great solution for one off's to small and quick turnaround runs  for promotional wear 
  • Good wash and wear durability up to 50 washes* (When care instructions are followed).

Heat Transfer Printing (HTP/ HTV)

Then we have HTP or HTV also known as Heat Transfer Vinyl Process which has two options that we can provide. These 2 options includes full colour process printed heat transfer vinyl and also one colour speciality substrates.  

Full Colour Heat Transfer Printing (HTP/ HTV)

First up let's outline HTP Full colour process where we use a commercial grade heat transfer vinyl printing process where we print high resolution quality full colour process using Roland eco-solvent printers and inks onto premium quality 90µm (thin and soft) heat transfer substrates providing both a light and reasonably stretchable feel applied through commercial heat transfer process. 

We also don't just square cut, where artwork permits, we use machines that profile cut your design to shape before we apply to your garment. If you have ever seen a full profile cut and weeded transfer decal, it is a similar outcome where we remove all excess substrate from the design to allow the garment to show through providing a much more integrated look. For more about this process and the various cut style please see - Apparel-cutlines

Don't be mistaken while the theory is similar this is certainly not your home based iron on or paper transfers, this is a premium printing processes which is used by fashion brands.

There are some screen printing sites that try to play down HTV, but we have been doing this for 8 years now and we have produced garments for some of the biggest brands in Australia who even though we have DTG now, prefer HTV process. 

Some Benefits of Commercial Grade Full Colour Heat Transfer Printing

  • light-weight, 
  • high resolution vibrant colour prints including photographic artwork 
  • Compatible with majority of fabrics including Cotton, Polyester, Cotton / Polyster blends as well as a range of other fabrics
  • Good wash and wear durability up to 50 washes* (When care instructions are followed). 

One Colour & Specialty Heat Transfer Printing (HTP/ HTV)

Then there is the HTV one colour and speciality substrates, this is the same application process as the full colour process, however we are just using premium quality Siser coloured heat transfer vinyl to produce the design

This HTV process is most often associated with being used for Names and Numbers on sporting apparel, however it is actually used more broadly as with the right design it can be an awesome solution for brands and designers looking to stand out from the full colour process printed styles and also have excellent wash-ability and durability for longer term use. 

For more info on the range of one colour and speciality substrates, please check out our preferred stock Siser at www.siser.com, you can also see a range of the results that can be achieved, again not just an iron paper solution. 

Some Benefits of Commercial Grade 1-Colour and Specialty Substrate Heat Transfer Printing

  • light-weight, 
  • Vibrant colours and speciality substrates 
  • Compatible with majority of fabrics including Cotton, Polyester, Cotton / Polyster blends as well as a range of other fabrics
  • Excellent wash and wear durability up to 50-60 washes* (When care instructions are followed).

More Questions?

The above is a work in progress and an outline however we hope that helps answer your questions. If you have any others please let me know, happy to see if we can help.

Express Drink Coasters

Are you looking to get in front of your prospects and clients when you can’t seat at the the table yourself?

Drink Coasters are a fantastic way to do this is when your prospects or clients are sitting down to enjoy a beverage either on it’s own or with a meal.

When people think about and consider drink coasters it is generally in connection with pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurant environments. However, a drink coaster can work for other businesses as well and it can used at a meeting table, conferences, events and even cross promotion opportunities with a local cafe or pub!

At Same Day Printing we continue to invest in the latest digital printing and finishing equipment to provide you with a range of last minute offline marketing solutions to help you not only increase brand awareness but more importantly generate more leads and sales fast.

While our Express Drink Coasters are not produced on a traditional beer matt stock and are based on a 350gsm Uncoated or Matt Coated Card stock, we can produce through our Same Day Printing and Express 24-48 Hour printing options for dispatch.

With the online world becoming an ever-increasing competitive place to be found or seen, engaging a good cross media marketing strategy that includes offline marketing solutions will certainly help support your marketing efforts.

If you have something in particular you would like to consider or happen to be stuck for ideas, please give us a call, we are more than happy to discuss some possible solutions to help you create more awareness and generate more sales.

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing your all the best for creating and activating effective and efficient marketing in your business.

Cheers

Tom Dickson
Offline Marketing Solutions Director

POP Offline Marketing

At Same Day Printing we continue to invest in the latest digital printing and finishing equipment to provide you with a range of last minute offline marketing solutions to help you not only increase brand awareness but more importantly generate more leads and sales fast.

One of the ways to do this is Point-of-Sale (POS) or also known as Point-of-Purchase (POP)  offline marketing situations where your customers and or prospects are physically. POP promotions are designed to encourage purchases right at or near the register and today’s POS ads are changing all the time.

I have no doubt that you have read, heard and we certainly appreciate that some of our digital online marketing colleagues may suggest that it is hard to quantify the exact statistics surrounding the results that can be achieved by POS advertising because it is not immediately trackable and that there are so many unspoken factors go into a decision to purchase. That said, it’s a widely held opinion in the branding world that POS advertising offline not only helps you increase brand awareness it can greatly influence immediate purchases.

While we won’t go into detail today, although not as immediate there are still ways that you can measure and quantify your results,  the simplest of which may just be a spike in sales but it is important to consider how and what the right monitoring tools you can put in place to measure your results.

When people think about and consider Point of Sale marketing it is generally in connection with retail and restaurant environments. However, a point of purchase can work for other businesses as well and it can used at a meeting table, a reception counter, or even on your teams uniforms and or vehicles while on a clients site.

There are a lot of solutions we can assist you with, some of which include

 

To help you ensure that you put your best foot forward with your next, we have and continue to invest in both class leading Small Format and large format Full Colour Digital Printing solutions which offer you cost-effective, short-run and fast virtually on-demand printing.

With the online world becoming an ever-increasing competitive place to be found or seen, engaging a good cross media marketing strategy that includes offline marketing solutions will certainly help support your marketing efforts.

If you have something in particular you would like to consider or happen to be stuck for ideas, please give us a call, we are more than happy to discuss some possible solutions to help you create more awareness and generate more sales.

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing your all the best for creating and activating effective and efficient marketing in your business.

Cheers

Tom Dickson
Offline Marketing Solutions Director

Up to 70 FREE Stock Images to Organise Your Marketing

The Same Day Printing team have been utilising bigstockphoto.com as a cost effective source of professional stock images for years now.

Quality images and vector files contribute so greatly to a quality print outcome, improving the visual impact and trust factors of marketing collateral – and just making things look great.

And now we have the opportunity to share a trial offer with you. Simply sign up and download up to 70 images over 14 days at no charge.

Note, BigStockPhoto does ask you to provide credit card details on sign up in case you find the service valuable and want to continue after this period – but continuing is a choice. For many businesses, it’s likely that you will find more than you need during the trial period, so on the 14th day – or any time before when you think you have all the images you need, simply cancel your membership and no fees will apply.

Ready to download some images?

Same Day Printing’s Bigstockphoto.com Trial Offer

Country of Origin Food Label Printing

If you are in the food industry you will no-doubt be looking at how and when you implement the new regulatory Country of Origin Food Labels.

If you sell food in retail stores in Australia, new Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) laws will apply to your products from 1 July 2016 – but your labels don’t need to change immediately.

Businesses have a two-year grace period to transition to the new label style. But this time will fly, so if you are looking at this now, take a moment to call us so we can help you implement a transition plan and ensure you are working to code in advance of the 1 July 2018 deadline.

Where needed, the Same Day Printing team can work with you to stagger the design and print of new labels across your products over a period of months, reducing the cost and time impact that that this change will have on your business.

If your internal team are able to address some of the changeover requirements for you, below are some useful tools to help you do so.

Watch this explanatory video on the new Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL)

Food Labelling Explanatory Video:

Food Labelling Style Guide: www.business.gov.au/foodlabels

Food Labelling Legislation: www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016L00528

If you would like assistance with updating your design, or printing your food labels, please call or email us and we would be happy to work through it with you.

Australian Event Awards 2016

Those who know us at Same Day Printing, know that we love working with our event clients. With such high self-expectation and the drive to pull-off last minute miracles for their clients, this is one group we can relate to, and we love working as an extension to their teams.

With the Australian Event  Awards coming up in September 2016, we wanted to take the opportunity to wish all entrants the very best of luck.  It is set to be another awe-inspiring evening, bringing together people from all aspects of the event and conference industry.

If you've entered the awards, Good Luck!

If you are attending the event, have fun!

If there is any way that we can help you in bringing your next event together- we are only a call or email away.

Speak Soon,
Ally Dickson & the events support team.

View our Event Services page

9 Tips for your next Exhibition or Tradeshow

We know that standing out from the crowd at a trade show or exhibition can be a real challenge.

You have or will invest a lot of time and money to be at this event, so it is important that you have the best chance to get a fantastic return on your investment generating leads and possibly sales on the day.

Here are 9 tips to help you stand out from your competitors.

  • Have your business cards ready! 
    You’d be surprised how many trade show attendees forget to bring their business cards. Don’t be one of them. 
  • Wear Customised Apparel. 
    Wear personalised clothing, such as customised t-shirts, hats, jackets, shoes or if your really game a costume or morph suit to promote your company and your products; you will find many trade show attendees will enjoy the relaxed, friendly and fun atmosphere.
  • Take Risks and Have Fun. 
    The business with the biggest booth doesn’t necessarily win at the end of the day – the business and team that generates the most buzz does. Work on ways to have some fun, to be interactive and overall be memorable.
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    Pass out Freebies.
    Everyone likes something free, while sweet treats are always great, think about something that has a bit more longevity that your prospects are more likely to hold onto. People tend to keep useful and interesting promotional items, so choose your giveaway items carefully as it will help ensure you have a great ROI. 
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    Train your team.
    Not only to ensure that they have the necessary product knowledge, but also to be upstanding, friendly, personable, open, and honest. You will likely have a number of competitors at trade shows and your prospects will be more likely to spend time with those in the know. Ensure your team is also trained to move about the stand – I know it should go without saying, but how many times have you gone to an event and seen people at a booth that are sitting down seeming disinterested, annoyed or cranky. Make sure you and your team always have a smile and that you take the time to interact with potential clients and answer any questions they may have.
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    Have quality hand-outs at the ready.
    This does not necessarily mean print 10’s of thousands of flyers, brochures and or catalogues. Our advice is that if the demand is there, hand-out to all those genuinely interested, otherwise don’t just pass it to everyone as they walk past. We love print, but not when it is unnecessarily dumped. You can even have different levels of hand-outs for different levels of interest i.e. hand a flyer to someone passing by who says “do you have something I can read later as I’m in a rush”, through to someone you have just spent 20 minutes with and they want to go away to consider – maybe you have a catalogue or brochure with a lot more content and substance for this client.
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    Have a no brainer offer.
    Everyone goes to trade shows expecting to see great offers – so don’t disappoint them, be sure to have a no-brainer trade show offer too. Here’s a awesome tip that I know can help generate some great leads by embracing the power of digital printing and working with companies and teams like us at Same Day Printing. If you’re displaying at a multi-day event and/or get the opportunity to set-up the day before – Check out what your competitors are offering at the start of the show, and use Same Day Printing to see if you can offer something different or more enticing.
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    Have a Competition.
    Yes it should go without saying, but it is amazing how many expo’s and events I still go too and there is no lead capturing tool. You have just spent thousands on most occasions to be at the event, so don’t lose the opportunity to follow up on general leads and sales afterwards. Sure, not everyone enters, or want’s to enter, but it is a great opportunity to grab potential prospects’ details. Have a competition to win something of reasonable value to your prospects and collect details to include in a follow-up marketing campaign after the trade show. – Be sure to inform them on the competition form that you will be touching base.
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    Have a Follow-up Campaign.
    This is paramount – a non-negotiable! You have spent the time and the money in speaking with people and collecting names, don’t let it go to waste. While there is no silver bullet in marketing, there is also no need to have a full blown cross media campaign, but you should have a basic 3 touch point campaign, this can be made up using a combination of a number of communication tools such as phone call, email, or direct mail.

For example, you could:

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    Send an email, followed by a phone call and then followed by another email
  • 2
    Send an email, followed by a postcard and then followed by a phone call
  • 3
    Try A&B Testing and try both and see which gets the better response and results.

As you can appreciate that this is by no means the full list of activities, however it should help to ensure your next trade show, event or conference exhibition is even more successful.

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing you all the best for creating and actioning effective and efficient marketing at your next Trade Show, Exhibition or Event.

Cheers

Tom Dickson

7 Tradie Marketing Tips

So you’re a tradie and you want to grow your business.

I’m not only a tradies son, my old man is a sparky, I’m also a tradie myself being in the print game.

While you know you are good at what you do, whether you are a Sparky, Chippy, Mechanic, Gardner or Plumber, Marketing may not be your strong points.

Let’s be honest, it is getting even harder and more competitive to be found online. Like most industries there is a massive amount of competition now online vying for your customers and or prospects attention.

That said, I’m certainly not saying you don’t invest in your online marketing, as you should be, but the offline (old skool) marketing tools still work and are often now neglected by some of your competitors.

Here is 8 quick tips that will not necessarily break the bank but more importantly I know will help you generate more leads and build your business.

1. Vehicle Signage

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    You have the opportunity to have a mobile billboard, use it.
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    Just think, when you are parked wherever you are working, your vehicle signage is always working for you, the neighbours could be looking for what you do!
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    It does not have to be a brand new ute or van with a full vehicle wrap to get you going, some well designed decals / stickers on your doors and or windows will help.

2. Uniforms

It’s not just the people in retail stores and the fast food joints that benefit from branded uniforms…You are a walking and working billboard, use it.

Whether it is your Shirts, Vests, Hoodies, Caps and even your shoes! (think about it….some of you do or should be taking your shoes off when you get to the front door, your customers will notice!) custom printed apparel will not only help you stand out from the crowd, it will help promote who you are and what you do!

3. Flyers or Cards for Direct Mail Box Marketing (or even door hangers)

I’m not talking about a mass distribution mail box campaign that’s going to cost you 1000’s of dollars, but how much time would it take you to pop something in the mail box left and right of the house you are working on? With digital printing you can print as little as 50 flyers or postcards to start testing and measuring. 

4. Magnets

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    These are still a cracker even these days. I have my local plumbers on my fridge as we speak, however it amazes me how many tradies I have used who don’t offer me a magnet!
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    Give a couple to your customer (one for them and one for a friend), pop them in the mail box left and right or even stick some to the rear or side of your vehicle!

5. Door Hangers

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    There will be certain opportunities where you may be able to pop a door hanger on a door or three.
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    Remember if you provide a great “No Brainer” offer you will find it will generate results.
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    If you want to know a little more, check this article out. (Hang-around-with-door-hangers)

6. Referral Cards

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    You’ve done a great job, ask you customer if they would be happy to refer you on and give them something to hand to their family member or friend.

7. Banners and Flags

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    You can either use these if you don’t want to put signage on your vehicle or even better in combination with your vehicle signage.
  • 2
    Banners and or Flags are a great solution while you are onsite for a short period of time.

8. Corflute Signs

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    If you are working on a site longer than 1 or 2 days and have the opportunity to pop up a corflute sign, this is great 24 hour drive-by advertising.

It’s a bit like dating, it generally takes more than one date to build a long term relationship. Marketing your business is similar, the more a customer experiences your brand and you the more likely they will be happy to engage you!

I hope that this helps you make this you best year yet!

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing you all the best for creating and actioning effective and efficient marketing in your business this week and year.

Cheers

Tom Dickson

Hang around… even after you’ve left!

We’ve all seen door hangers used successfully in businesses like Resorts, Hotels and Motels… but innovative businesses are taking them much further than this.

Whether you’re a Pizza Shop, Real Estate Agent, Landscaper, Roofing Specialist or practically any business that deals with the public, Door Hangers could be a great local or event marketing solution for you!

Consider for a moment your prospect arrives home, heads over to check their mail box and quickly flips through a bunch of fairly standard Direct Marketing Mail (which some call junk mail) and in some instances it can be. Most of this may go in the wheelie bin as they pass by it on the way to their Front door. However, and picture this, your prospect goes to turn the handle and something stops them. Hanging on their door handle is your professional door hanger strategically placed to grab their sole attention with your “No Brainer” offer.

Door hangers are a reasonably untapped opportunity with plenty of marketing potential. Door hangers could be the perfect vehicle for marketing your business locally and are one of the most inexpensive ways to get the word out to a large group of potential customers.

We can help you produce custom full colour professional quality and eye-catching door hangers using your own design, or we can help you to create a custom, results driven,  door hanger design that helps you promote your business to your clients.

You can either choose to use one of our standard range of door hanger shapes or if you are looking to really stand out we can easily also help you produce your own custom die-cut Door Hanger solution.

Without a doubt, in this online and offline marketing world we now live and operate in, Door Hangers can be a great marketing tool if your looking for ways to stand out from the competitive crowd.

Take a look at some of our Door Hanger options today – Door Hangers

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing you all the best for creating and actioning effective and efficient marketing in your business.

Cheers

Tom Dickson


Stand Up and Stand Out

Are you constantly looking for ways to stand out from the crowd and or your competitors?

Do you have a team who work face to face with your customers?

Have you thought about custom promo wear?

Promotional apparel can be a powerful marketing and branding tool to add to your Marketing Too Box to help promote your business. For example custom printed Tees, Hats, Aprons and yes even shoes can be a great opportunity to help you promote and or educate your customers on what you have to offer and with some clever creative you can by stylish and or have fun while doing it.

As you may be aware, it takes multiple touch points for client to become familiar with a brand and to stay front of mind, good marketing managers and teams really know that the value that promo wear can add to the marketing mix even if it just has your business name and logo.

Promo wear can attract attention and act as conversation starters with the real live person in them.

Can you prospects or customers ask a flyer, a poster or a billboard a question right there and then about a product, service or offer that you have available. But with the power of custom printed apparel, they can ask one of your team about the company after spotting an eye-catching shirt, Apron, jacket, jersey, umbrella or even their shoes!

Below are just some of the great ways that some of our clients are already using custom printed apparel to promote their businesses.

  • Every Day wear Employee Uniforms (Shirts, Jackets, Jumpers, Hoodies, Shorts, Ties and even shoes)
  • Special Event Apparel for Trade Shows, Conferences and event sponsorship (i.e. Hats, Aprons, Umbrella’s)
  • Team Sporting Event Clothing (Jerseys, Tee’s, Polo’s, Singlets, Hats and even Morph suits)
  • Giveaways.

Promo wear is a great marketing tool if your looking for ways to stand out from the competitive crowd.

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing you all the best for creating and actioning effective and efficient marketing in your business.

Cheers

Tom Dickson

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