Business Ideas
blackline
August 1-15, 1996
Marketing to Your Market
Get a Great Image and Save Some Money

Research shows that most small businesses have about $2,000 a year to spend on marketing materials. That means they really need to get more for their dollar in today's competitive market place.

One place to maximize budget is by creating your own marketing materials - a customer newsletter, a product brochure, customer proposals, an invitation to a special sale, even business cards and letterhead.

You don't have to shell out money for high-priced desktop publishing suites geared toward graphic arts professionals. You can save a lot of money - and make some powerful marketing changes on your own - with Microsoft® Publisher.

But I'm Not an Artist!
More than 48 percent of small business owners say they want to create their own marketing materials, according to user research and surveys conducted by the Software Publishers Association and LINK Resources.

But the typical small business owner is not a professional designer, nor can many small businesses afford to hire ad agencies or design firms.

quoteInstead, they have specific business-related publishing tasks, clear purposes, and limited budgets. Unlike professional designers, small-business owners are interested in quickly, easily and economically generating the most common publications. They want professional-looking results, without professional-level costs or software learning curves.

It's Wizardry
quoteMicrosoft Publisher gives small businesses "point and click" simplicity. Every aspect of the design process has been simplified, so you get impressive publications in just a few easy steps. You save time and money, and you get marketing materials with big-business looks and pizzazz.

Just fill in the PageWizard(tm) design assistant questions and Publisher does the rest. Wizards - a Microsoft innovation - are guides that automate the creation of marketing materials, making it an easy, step-by-step process. Publisher includes almost 20 PageWizard assistants to ensure cohesive design and consistency across all your marketing materials, from letterhead and ads to brochures and invitations. In all, there are more than 100 publication styles, 1,200 pieces of clip art, and 60 elegant and distinctive fonts to enhance your publications and documents.

Get a Great Deal on Microsoft Products
You can select Microsoft Publisher as a standalone tool or take advantage of Microsoft's limited-time Value Pack Offers:

Home & Small Business Value Pack (CD format) for $249* ($349 Canadian)
Perfect for the small business looking for a great value package that’s loaded with all the power of Microsoft Word for your word processing, Microsoft Excel for data analysis, Microsoft Publisher for desktop publishing, and Microsoft Bookshelf for a comprehensive set of reference tools!

  • Includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Publisher CD Deluxe & Bookshelf ’95, all for Windows 95
  • Also includes a $40 in-box rebate coupon for existing users of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel
*Estimated retail price

Microsoft Word & Publisher Value Pack (CD format) for $129* ($179 Canadian)
Create professional-looking documents and materials with this value package that provides your small business with great publishing tools from Microsoft Publisher for Windows 95 and word processing tools from Microsoft Word for Windows 95.

*Estimated retail price

Publisher in Action
See the Fuzzy Wuzzy Rug Company and A Hike And A Hydrant case studies to learn how two small businesses used Microsoft Publisher-generated materials to market themselves.