For pet care professionals, it’s important to welcome a new pet owner on their first visit, to immediately start building that relationship and ensure that they don’t hesitate to return again and again. This is important whether you’re a vet, a groomer, or have another pet care professional. Sharper has a lot of great products for pet grooming marketing and veterinary marketing. We carry veterinary calendars, veterinary magnets, veterinary tote bags, and come great veterinary promotional items.

A great first step in building an impression of a trusted pet care professional is to welcome your pet owner with a card. After they receive a new kitten or puppy, the perfect way to share in their happiness is with one of the new “congratulations” pet care greeting cards:

People today see their pets as members of the family. How often have you heard the terms “furry children” or “pet parents”? These cards show that you understand the importance of that relationship to new pet owners.

Or, if they have had their pet for a few years and are simply new clients to your practice or business, how about another token of welcome? Giving them something they can take home that has your personalized information on it is worth its weight in gold. If they are constantly reminded of your name and contact information, there’s no doubt they’ll call you first when their beloved pet needs some attention. Not only because your information is close at hand, but because of the goodwill you’ll engender by giving them a useful gift. sharper leashes are wonderful promotional giveaways, and sharper scoops are well-used and cost-effective gifts. Imagine your name being at-hand every time a pet owner feeds their pet or scoops its litter! I would be absolutely thrilled with our vet if they gave us one of these after we brought our pet in:

I love designing products with puppies and kittens in them. Sometime this year I will be getting a new puppy myself, and I am really looking forward to it — they are just so cute! It’s no wonder that so many of Sharper’s products featuring kittens and puppies are so popular. One of these is the Dream Big series, which started as one of our many personalized magnet calendars and is now developing into more products, including postcards and reusable tote bags:

This year there will be a 2011 personalized magnet calendar as well as a tri-fold calendar in this popular series! 2011 calendars will be available to order later this spring, and there will be quite a few other calendars with adorable animals in them. What better for your patients or clients to have up in their homes and work and enjoy all year than a calendar? Even in this digital age, people still love to receive personalized calendars from their favorite service providers, for at-a-glance reference.

Keep your practice or business information top-of-mind by including die cut pet care and veterinary magnets in your communication mix. The traditional animal paw print is still one of the most effective graphic applications used today in the pet industry – easily recognizable as an industry standard and a very successful image for branding.

Sharper offers a wonderful selection that you can include as a giveaway after a pets next visit. You can build your brand and save money by coordinating your magnets with other matching products, such as veterinary business cards, grooming appointment cards and veterinary tote bags.

I’m excited to announce that the first Sharper™ pet care professionals catalog of 2010 has been released!  We worked really hard to fill this catalog with all of your favorite products and also expanded it to fit in many new ones.

Inside you’ll find:

• Pet sympathy cards
• Grooming appointment cards
• Personalized leashes
• Veterinary promotional items
• Boarding and Sitting cards
• Veterinary magnets
• New License – Pet Poet’s Club
• and a whole lot more…

The easiest way to see all of our new pet care products is to check out the new products section of the e-sharper website.

Most professionals keep business cards on hand at all times in the same way practices and businesses have them available with the receptionist or in an area frequented by patients or clients. We’ve all used business cards since the get-go and we tend to forget the advantages of this mainstay marketing tool.

Ask yourself 3 questions about your current business cards:

1. What is the purpose?
2. Why did I chose this design, format, or iinformation?
3. How can I improve by business cards to achieve my objectives more effectively?

To help you answer question #3, I’ve listed a few ways Sharper can help you maximize the use of your business cards.

• Try our dental business cards in a die cut fomat like a tooth or dental floss. Create custom business cards by working with our talented team of graphic designers to establish a unique look. Both are great ways to stand out from the competition and be top of mind when patients are looking to book that next appointment.
  
• Add a custom message listing your services, mission statement, hours of operation or anything to set your practice or business apart. Anything you can list that is unique, instantly sets you apart from the rest. A custom message can be added to your business card for $35, regardless of quantity.

• To increase your staying power and be an easy point of reference for booking return appointments, try handing out magnetic business cards to new patients or clients. The staying power will boost your loyalty rates as your magnetic business card stays in the trusty spot on the fridge or office cabinet for future bookings.

Give as a notice of a scheduled follow-up and reduce missed appointments.

• Print an appointment reminder on the back of your business cards. Your patients or clients are less likely to misplace or forget their next appointment with a professional appointment reminder on the back of your business card. For $35 you can select your choice of appointment reminder to print on the back of your business cards.

Who doesn’t immediately recognize the unorganized family of Baby Blues, or the breathtaking imagery of National Geographic? Sharper™ works with a myriad of artists that are featured in newspapers and books around the world to develop designs specifically for dental, chiropractic, veterinary, vision, and hearing professionals. By aligning your practice or business with these types of licenses, your message will stand out and help build your own practice recognition among patients or clients.

Licensed designs are available for numerous applications!

Dental Recall Cards

Dental Tote Bags

Chiropractic Birthday cards

Veterinary Magnets

We also have licensed designs available for Business Promotional Calendars, dental holiday cards, financial postcards, massage therapy postcards, grooming appointment cards, and more.

It’s important for businesses to communicate with patients or clients without the intention of soliciting business. Why? Just like in personal relationships, people don’t want to receive phone calls or letters only when something is needed from them – business greeting cards like birthday cards are a great tool that can be used to increase loyalty without any “strings attached”.

Birthday cards are a great way to stay on the minds of the people who you want to keep as customers.  They are also a great reference tool to attract new customers because birthday cards are almost always displayed where others can see them.

Here are some ideas of how you can add more “wow-factor” to client birthday cards:

• Personalize the envelope if sending a folding birthday card
• Coordinate the ink color to compliment the card and help your business stand out
• Make the card work twice as hard for you by printing a gift certificate or promotional offer directly on the birthday card in addition to a personal message
• Special birthday’s require special recognition. Send out personalized toothbrushes, lip balm, cups, activity books or other personalized promotional items to your top clients
• Bookmark calendars, magnets, stickers, and activity sheets are also a nice economical gift to include with client birthday cards.

Relocation is a common decision for many practices and businesses. Whatever the reason, your efforts in communicating this change to your patients and clients should be well thought out in order to ensure no patient or client gets left behind.

Here are some tips to ensure you have a successful move!

• Two months out from your expected moving date, start telling your patients and clients that you are moving.
• Place a plaque with a custom message announcing your move at your reception desk. Make sure you state the month of the move if you don’t yet have the actual moving date.
• Have magnetic business cards and new appointment cards made up with the new address. As your office staff schedules the patient’s or client’s next appointment, use the new cards. A magnetic business card makes sure your new address is always kept easily visible and never misplaced!When you order the appointment cards and magnetic business cards, go ahead and have your new stationary, business cards, appointment reminder postcards, reusable tote bags and other products done, too. Make sure all of your communication and promotional products are up to date!
• Two weeks prior to the move, send out a mass mailing of business moving announcement cards to your patients or clients announcing your relocation and giving the date you will be in your new offices.
  • For a one-time fee of $45 add a custom map to your cards!
  • Or add message highlighting for just $25 to ensure your new address is remembered.
• Change the message on your voice mail to mention the upcoming move, giving the date and new location.

A relocation always has its stressful times, but you can make it easier on yourself and your patients or clients by having a relocation plan in place for all of your marketing communications!

There are very few people that aren’t animal lovers, or at some time in their lives haven’t been blessed with a cute and cuddly furry friend. Traditionally we see them on all types of personalized reminder cards, appointment cards, business greeting cards, and they always bring a smile to an otherwise hectic day. That’s why I am so excited about this new line of Sharper™ postcards called Hugs & Kisses. Sharper™ has recently partnered with talented photographer, Gregg Cuddiford who presents the joy of animals through his charming collection of animal portraits. The detailed imagery of each portrayed animal character is visually strong on its own, so when the design team at Sharper™ began to work on these postcards, it was decided that “a picture was worth a thousand words”…no need to embellish with headings and overpowering typeface.

Enjoy this light-hearted approach to your marketing initiatives. Use them as appointment reminder postcards, recall cards or to thank patients or clients for their referrals. Couldn’t we all use a hug, maybe even a kiss, especially when it comes to busy schedules and often missed appointments? With no words on the front of the postcard, you are free to include your message in more detail on the back when you personalize the postcard. As a bonus, Sharper™ has also introduced reusable tote bags, gift certificates and magnets featuring these lovable friends. Your patients or clients will love to keep them to reuse when they take them home. Hugs & Kisses images are the perfect way to brand your practice or business and to “seal your message with a kiss”.

The powerful visual appeal combined with year-long marketing power make personalized magnet calendars a successful tool to keep patients or clients coming back. Include a personalized magnet calendar in a reusable tote bag as a giveaway for patients or clients to take home. You can even include a personalized magnet calendar with your business thank you cards or holiday cards as a token of your appreciation.

See a magnet calendar design you like? Look for coordinated images of your favorite designs with products such as plastic supply bags, peel And stick appointment cards, and appointment reminder postcards to build your brand while saving your money!

Keep your contact information in front of your patients or clients all year round. Your contact information will always be visible and top of mind. magnetic business cards are a great addition to business thank you cards, business greeting cards, reusable tote bags, or hand them out to visitors of your practice or business. Magnetic business cards combine the contact information of a business card with the longevity of magnets.