Are you paying someone to make your company’s brochures and newsletters for you? Or, are you not creating those projects at all and therefore missing out on extremely valuable marketing opportunities? You shouldn’t have to spend a valuable portion of your budget on having these materials made up by another company, and you definitely should not be denied the exposure that your business can gain by getting these materials created and distributed. The ACTS Learning Center owner Steven Patterson explains how you can create these projects and more yourself.
Think of Microsoft Publisher as a sort of hybrid of Microsoft Word and Adobe Illustrator. This program allows even those of us who aren’t exactly graphic designers to create all sorts of beautifully designed materials that can include the information we want to include all within an interesting, attractive background. Publisher can help you create newsletters, brochures, websites, business cards, post cards, greeting cards, labels, flyers, report covers, programs, and more. These are things that most companies pay printing andor design companies to create for them. But why not take that chunk of budget and turn it toward other necessities? Publisher is the connector between a design-challenged businessperson and amazing artistic capabilities.
There are many tools and methods in Publisher, and varying levels of difficulty. Once you’re familiar with the program, you will see how simple and fast Publisher is. But before you start learning, the processes can seem complicated, especially if you’ve really never done this type of design before. Taking a class in Publisher can help you master the entire program from start to finish, and it is such a worthwhile investment of time and money. After you have completed the class, you can handle all of your company’s marketing and document design, so think of the money you will save. And don’t think that doing these projects on Publisher will take too much more of your valuable time at work. The whole point of Publisher is to allow a busy businessperson to create materials for marketing and productivity without devoting chunks of a day to it. Remember, while Publisher is a great tool for graphic designers and web designers who can use the program all day, it also caters to a businessperson who is not a graphic designer and needs to finish a project quickly and efficiently in order to get on with the rest of the day’s tasks.
At its quickest and easiest, you can create a document from a sort of pre-created template on Publisher’s system. You can choose a format, border, or background, and then add your own information and pictures – all of which a class would teach you easily to do. On a more advanced level, you can actually create the document yourself – something that can be beneficial if you need to create a more specifically personalized look for your company, but isn’t necessary if you need to create the materials more quickly.
Publisher can even teach you the different types within the sort of materials you are making. For example, there are different kinds of newsletters, depending on the formatting: how many columns, what is shown on the first page, how the content is organized, and what kind of graphics are implemented. All in all, Publisher is your partner in creating materials that your company can use in meetings, as bulletins and information, and for marketing – materials you would have never thought your company could create on its own. So, taking a class and in a brief period of time learning how to handle this aspect of business on your own without having to outsource can be priceless for your company’s productivity.
