How to Create Your Own Marketing Materials

For any of you realtors and other small business owners out there, you know how much marketing materials can cost. If you are outsourcing the production of signs, brochures, or flyers, all of that printing adds up on your monthly budget. But there’s no need to max out your budget. If you have a printer, premium paper, high-quality ink, and a little creativity, you can keep the creation of marketing materials in-house.

Create Marketing Materials Yourself

Anyone running a small- to medium-sized business, such as a realty or private law practice, can use these tools and tips to generate quality materials and save money.

Software

Canva is an awesome free tool for creating all types of marketing materials for your business, including business cards, letterhead, posters, brochures, banners, and gift certificates. You can even make charts, Twitter headers, and e-cards.

Canva is free and easy to use—all you have to do is sign up with your email address, Facebook account, or Google account. You then choose what type of document you want to create. Once you select a design, you’ll see font, color, and other options. Even with a free account, you’ll be able to save all of your designs so if you want to update, say an org chart or résumé, you can easily do so later.

Printing

After customizing your marketing design on the computer, set up your printer to print out the piece. First, see what the dimensions are of your marketing piece. Then pick the appropriate paper size and, if necessary, change the printer settings directly on your printer or via your computer. Many marketing materials are not the common letter size (8 1/2 inches wide and 11 inches long) or legal dimensions (8 1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long).

For most marketing materials, you’ll want to choose a durable paper that is heavier than regular printer paper. You may even use photo paperwith specific characteristics, such as glossy, luster, matte, or canvas.

Make sure you have enough ink to print. Since marketing materials are usually in color, check the levels of the color cartridges. Faded marketing materials can reflect an unprofessional image of your business.

If you’ve followed these steps, you should be good to go on printing your marketing piece. Let us know below or on Facebook and Twitter what tips you have for producing marketing materials.