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5 Affordable Ways to Brand Your Small Business

You’ve developed your product or service and you believe your idea has unique market value. You’ve thought of a memorable company name, bought your domain name, established a phone number and address, and you’ve even designed your logo. You’re ready to put your company mission into action, right? Not just yet. Before you start reaching out to customers, there is a one last step that can help transform your mission from an intangible ideal into a cohesive, memorable brand. This involves creating solid and trustworthy correspondence with your audience. To do this, there are 5 very affordable things that can let customers know your company is legit and here to stay:

An Official Logo Rubber Stamp:

For just $10 you can have a rubber stamp with your official company logo. This stamp can be used for many branding purposes. Selling homemade soaps? Stamp paper bags or boxes with your unique logo! Sending out mailers or company collateral? Make sure the envelope and paper is stamped with your logo. You can even create your own business cards using a logo stamp. It is vital to keep your company logo in front of customers, and a rubber stamp is an affordable marketing tool that keeps your business from being lost in the shuffle of start-ups and fly by nights.

Logo stamps can be simple, featuring only your logo, but they can also include your logo, address, phone number, website, social media page and more.

An Address Stamp:

Have you ever come across an e-commerce site that had no contact number or physical location? You didn’t trust placing an order did you? How about a sales person who came to your door and did not have a business card? Obviously that person was either not trustworthy, or had no real interest in gaining your business. Small and affordable details can make your company look trustworthy and official. An address stamp can be used on mail and paperwork to let customers know you have a location where they can meet you in person, if needed. Even if your location is your garage, having a real life way of being reached makes your business more trustworthy to customers.

Custom Mugs or Promotional Items:

Start-up businesses often don’t have the budget to order bulk marketing collateral or free swag to hand out to customers. (Although there are many places online, like VistaPrint.com, that offer huge discounts on promotional items and business cards.) If you are just starting out, but want to give your business some real life brand power, how about customizing a mug? Even if you order just enough for your staff, coffee mugs are a great way to get your logo in front of more people. At a slightly higher price point, SIC cups and tumblers can be engraved with a logo.

Custom Company Mug

Custom Signs with Business Logo and Information

If you have a physical location, make sure you post appropriate signage to let customers know who you are, when and how you can be reached if they stop by during non-business hours, and what service or product you provide. Make sure your sign ties in your unique company message, logo, name, phone number and other important information. Depending on the size of sign you need, custom engraved plastic signs start at just $10. It doesn’t get much more affordable than that, and an engraved sign proves once again to customers, that your business is legitimate and trustworthy.

Custom Front License Plate

Many small business owners work from their cars. Whether you’re traveling around town to give estimates on home maintenance projects, or you meet with clients at coffee shops, you can back up your branding efforts by attaching a custom license plate to your vehicle. Custom license plates start at less than $25 and can get your business logo and contact information in front of many potential customers. Custom front plates make you look like a professional business owner. Other products, such as magnetic signs and clings can provide even more information, but custom plates offer a classy appeal that completes your offline marketing efforts.

In this digital age, it’s important to remember to reach people in real life, and to have a physical place to send your online audience once they’ve learned about your brand either online or offline. Branding and trustworthiness are born from a strategic marriage of online and offline marketing efforts. Real world marketing should reflect your online image and voice. Once customers recognize your logo, are made keenly aware of your image and mission, and know how to reach you online and offline, you can use sales, promotions, events and other happenings to create a stronger relationship with your audience. Trusted, traditional marketing is still alive and well, and you can use stamps, signs, mugs, license plates and more in order to give your start-up a real chance to compete and grow in a saturated market.

Gifts for Dad: Because Nothing’s More Personal than Something Personalized

Finding the perfect gift for Dad can be challenging. What do you buy for the man who already has it all? Another tie? A bottle of cologne? Instead of racking your brain for ways to be unique and creative, make your life a little easier with our guide to the best personalized Father’s Day gifts. Whether he’s a grilling fanatic or loves his man cave, we’ve got you covered.

Trendy Monogram Coasters

These leatherette coasters are add an elegant touch to your Dad’s favorite lounging space. They’ll fit perfectly on the end table next to his lazy boy or on the bar in the game room. Personalize them with his initials for a gift he knows you went the extra mile for.

A Mug for the Mornings

Get Dad a gift that will make him smile each time he starts the day with a cup of joe. Customize a coffee mug with whatever sweet reminder you think he would love to see in the mornings, like this Papa Bear design. If coffee isn’t enough to make his day, your message certainly will be.

The Classic Street Sign

Because what Dad wouldn’t love to hang a street sign in his man cave? Customize your order to match his personal style. The possibilities are endless with this classic piece of décor.

Personalized Cutting Board

If your Dad loves to spend time in the kitchen, this may be the perfect gift for him. This laser engraved, bamboo cutting board makes chopping fun and personal. Add his initials, your family’s last name or “Chef Dad” for a personalized, thoughtful gift.

World’s #1 Dad Beer Mug

This “World’s #1 Dad” beer mug is the perfect gift for your favorite beer enthusiast. Give him the gift of a cold beer on a Friday afternoon from his new favorite glass. With three lines to personalize, change up the message as you wish or keep it simple.

Photo Puzzle

Take his favorite memory and turn it into a fun activity you can enjoy together. This custom, 60 piece puzzle is great for Dad to assemble with kids of all ages. The gloss finish will keep the pieces alive as long as the memories.

& 8. Monogram Leatherette Accessories

This present takes the traditional wallet gift for Dad a step further by adding personalization. He always appreciates a new wallet, but make it even more special by adding his name or initials. These custom leatherette accessories are perfect for your entrepreneur or businessman Dad. Gift him a matching folio as well to bring to work meetings.

With an array of personalized gifts to choose from, the perfect gift for every Dad can be found at Holmes Custom. Best of all, all personalized gifts ship next business day, so you’ll be sure to have your Father’s Day gift before June 18^th. Shop here to find the best gift for your favorite man!

The #Holmies’ Holiday Party

Company culture is very important to us here at Holmes Stamp & Sign. At the end of every year, right around the holidays, we all get together to celebrate the year. Our Holiday parties are always a blast! It’s a time when we can all forget about work for a little while and have some well-deserved fun.

This year, we celebrated in style at local brewery here in Jacksonville called Intuition. Our dinner was catered by a local restaurant, Black Sheep, and it was delicious! Surrounded by friends and family, we ate, drank and laughed. We played corn hole, ping pong and video games. We even exchanged presents.

To make things interesting, we played a game called White Elephant while exchanging our gifts. It starts with a bunch of wrapped, unlabeled gifts and a hat full of everyone’s names. As names are drawn from the hat, those who are chosen select their gift. The best part is – your gifts can be stolen from those selected after you, so you never know what you’ll end up with. Everyone walked away with something great – from hand-mixers with hidden prizes, to bottles of liquor.

At the end of the night, it wasn’t about the gifts we’d received or the drinks we’d drank or even the food we’d eaten (which is shocking coming from the #Holmies). At the end of the night, it was about the laughs we’d shared, not just during that evening, but throughout the whole year.

Being a part of the Holmes’ culture is more than just working a 9 to 5 and earning a paycheck – it’s about something much bigger. It’s about knowing you can go to work and enjoy your day because you know you matter to those you’re surrounded by. 2016 was another successful year here at Holmes Stamp & Sign and we can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store for us.

The Elves on the Shelf Serve Lunch

When motivating your employees to reach a goal, no matter what that goal may be, it’s hard to beat the free food incentive. But our CEO and CFO managed to do just that. How? Well, not only was there free food on the table, but they also agreed to serve us lunch… dressed as ELVES!

That’s right – as if a catered lunch from Taco Lu wasn’t enough, we also got to enjoy Bryan Croft and Steve Fernandez, who we know as “Fern”, dressed up in Buddy the Elf costumes.

During our final month of the year, we have all kinds of incentives to reach a certain number in revenue. These incentives include ice cream sundae parties, pizza parties, catered lunches (yes – we like food here), scratch off lottery tickets, bowling parties, tickets to local sporting events and more. There’s no better way to get everyone here at Holmes Stamp & Sign all pumped for, what we called this year, “The Holmes Stretch.”

Giggles were heard throughout the office a few minutes before noon last Thursday. As Bryan and Fern emerged in their full Elf attire, photos were snapped and jokes were thrown around. Large to-go containers were uncovered and the smell of tacos traveled through the building. We all got in line and one-by-one they served us tacos, rice, beans, salsa, queso and tortilla chips. Laughter, satisfaction, but most of all accomplishment filled the room as we all indulged in our catered lunch.

As lunch came to an end, we all gathered around the Christmas tree set up in our Marketing suite. Bryan and Fern not-so-excitedly posed for pictures as they knew they would soon be posted all over the Internet! After a few group photos, some normal and some silly, we headed back to our work stations.

Part of what makes Holmes Stamp & Sign so special is our company’s culture. Success and customer satisfaction is certainly very important to us, but our leaders always emphasize the importance of enjoying our work. Here at Holmes, we’re more than co-workers – we’re more like a family.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours! From your friends at Holmes Stamp & Sign.

#Holmies Take Over the #MannequinChallenge

In the digital age, a new trend is always being born. We all remember the Ice Bucket Challenge and even the planking phenomenon. Many of us shook our heads in disbelief as we watched the first videos. But over time, the videos went viral and soon we found ourselves dumping a bucket of ice cold water over our heads and willingly lying face down on the dirty ground. Well if you haven’t heard, there’s a new trend in town (or in the Internet world) and it’s called the Mannequin Challenge.

Started by a group of students at Jacksonville’s Ed White High School, just a few miles away from Holmes Stamp & Sign, the Mannequin Challenge involves a large group of people pretending to be frozen in all kinds of positions. The top video on YouTube has received over seven million views. People from all over the world have participated in the challenge including Michelle Obama, the Clinton campaign, Beyonce and a number of famous athletes.

Since we love to have fun here at Holmes Stamp and Sign, we decided to give the Mannequin Challenge a try… and it was a BLAST! Watch the #Holmies take on the challenge here:

The Mannequin Challenge may look easy, but it’s actually not as simple as it seems (especially if you have some rambunctious participants J). What looks like a group of just holding perfectly still, actually takes a little preparation. If you’ve been thinking about joining the world in this trend, follow these steps to execute the Mannequin Challenge!

Select a leader: It’s always easier to organize a large group of people when there’s someone in charge.
Find a large (the more the better) group of participants and find out when they can do the challenge.
Set a time and date, then make sure it’s effectively communicated to the rest of the group.
Establish a location and also communicate this to the group.
Choose a videographer (maybe the group’s leader)! Stabilizers are a great filming tool if you have one available. If not, just try to keep a steady arm while filming.
Once everyone’s at the location, have the leader instruct them to hold their favorite position (It can be normal, funny or odd – but remember, unique poses will separate your video from others!)
RECORD! Have your videographer walk through the crowd, recording everyone’s “frozen” position and paying attention to those that stand apart. Make sure everyone holds as still as possible.
Once you’re done, celebrate your awesomeness!
Optional: Lay the audio track “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd behind the video before posting.
Have the leader post the video to social media, then have the rest of the group share the video to ALL of their platforms so you can get the most views as possible.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully executed the Mannequin Challenge. Now sit back, relax and hope your video goes viral. If not, you’ll have a fun, humorous video to watch for years to come! Above all, the Mannequin Challenge is about having FUN, so make sure to do that.

The Haiti180 Perspective

On a Monday morning, Holmes Stamp & Sign CEO Bryan Croft woke up earlier than most Mondays and prepared for a full day of travel. A 12-hour-journey would take him and his friends, including Holmes’ IT Manager Daniel Kellogg, to what would’ve felt like a different world for most. With nine suitcases full of donations they headed to Haiti on a mission’s trip. Two plane rides later, they arrived in Port au Prince, what he described as the “true poverty” of Haiti. Their day of travel wasn’t close to over yet as they climbed into a canter truck and headed west past the city, coast line and mountains.

After a five hour road trip, they arrived at their destination: Kay Mari, an orphanage that houses 35 children between the ages of nine months and thirteen-years-old. These children, as Bryan put it, are the ones who’ve “hit the jackpot” in comparison to the other locals because they consistently have food and shelter. The orphanage and a church sit on a gated piece of land. Katie, the backbone of the orphanage and an Ohio-native that traveled there as a missionary seven years ago and never returned, and seven locals all care for the children.

At the heart of this orphanage is an organization called Haiti180. Founder Sean Forrest first travelled to Haiti in 2002 and experienced the lack of love and compassion each child received in the orphanage system due to a need for more caretakers. From there, he and his group built and now operate Kay Mari, a state-of-the-art school, an elderly home and are working to build a medical facility.

The children ran straight to them when they arrived at the orphanage. Now his fifth trip to Kay Mari, Bryan said he’s built a relationship with some of the kids and they recognize him, just waiting for him to bring out the tootsie rolls.

The days to follow would be full of digging a large hole for the orphanage’s new well, walking the children to their school miles away and dividing donated items brought from home and spreading them throughout the surrounding village. They’d eat chicken boiled in a pot of hot water, level the ground of the orphans’ home and kick soccer balls around with the kids. They’d tend to a 38-year-old man who lives miles away from the orphanage named John Simone. haiti14

haiti6

Five years ago, John was in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed. With no family to take care of him, he lays helplessly in a small, clay hut day in and day out, unable to move and care for himself. When Bryan and his friends arrived, Katie expressed her great concerns for the man and they all quickly agreed to help however they could. So with the little supplies they had, they walked to the man’s home daily to care for his brutal bed sores and give him a reason to smile.

haiti5

“We went there four days in a row and the first day it was like we made eye contact with him but that’s it. But by the last day, and he could hardly move,” said Bryan, “But he was trying to grab our hands and say ‘Thank you!’”

Bryan said he returned to Jacksonville, FL. with one word resonating in his mind: perspective.

Bryan Croft and Kelly (Weedon) Noda met at Christ the King Catholic grade school in First grade, have remained friends over the years and were a part of the group of missionaries that went on this trip, pretty fun for a 30+ year friendship to end up in Haiti together, and you never know what you can and will accomplish with the people you meet in first grade!

Haiti180 brings missionaries to Kay Mari every year to help build and support a self-sustaining environment so the children can grow to one day be the leaders Haiti needs. Whether you form your own group or join an existing one, the opportunity to change your perspective and help someone much less fortunate is always there. You can also donate toward their current goal of $220,000 which will help them complete the medical facility.

Visit www.Haiti180.com to learn more about the people of Kay Mari, to apply to be a missionary or to donate to the cause.

Holmes Stamp & Sign’s Blood Drive

Throughout the year, we make time to distract from our usual work and give back to those in need. When you give to someone else, not only are you impacting another’s life – but you’re also impacting your own. Helping someone else ignites a joy within us that’s undeniable. This time around, Holmes Stamp & Sign hosted a blood drive with the help of OneBlood.

On Friday, November 11^th the big red OneBlood bus pulled into our parking lot bright and early. Our Human Resources Manager, Elena Rend, directed the large vehicle as it struggled to find space in our parking lot. At 8:30 a.m., donations began!

Thirteen of our employees squeezed tight on red and blue, foam rubber balls as the OneBlood nurses drew their blood. All donors received a OneBlood fleece blanket as well as a wellness checkup including blood pressure, temperature, iron count, pulse and cholesterol screenings.

Holmes Stamp & Sign makes it a priority to host a blood drive multiple times a year. In fact, this was our third blood drive in 2016 alone! There’s plenty of other organizations also contributing to this great cause like various Walgreens locations and movie theatres offering incentives like free movie tickets.

If you’re interested in donating, OneBlood has donation centers located from the most southern tip of Florida all the way up into Georgia. Or you can park the big red bus in your organization’s parking lot for a few hours and get your employees involved, too!

Visit www.OneBlood.org to find out more about donating and/or hosting a blood drive.

While you’re there, visit the “I am OneBlood” tab to learn about all the lives this small gesture is impacting!

The Rethreaded Story

It’s always exciting to receive emails and be tagged in social media posts by happy customers who love their products. Our custom stamps and other branding tools help small and growing businesses across the country represent their brands. Our passion helps them establish their passion – and it doesn’t get much better than that.

We wanted to share the story of one of those businesses because not only are they located in Jacksonville just like us, but their passion is making a difference in the lives of those who, to put it very lightly, haven’t had it easy.

Founded by Kristin Keen, “Rethreaded started with a simple idea, and a strong passion,” reads their website. That passion was to positively impact victims of the sex trade industry by providing them with dignifying work and “allowing them to be who they were created to be.”

According to Rethreaded’s website, Human Trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry and between 75% – 95% of prostituted women were sexually abused as children. 90% of women within the sex slave industry want to escape, but lack access to jobs and resources. Rethreaded’s mission was and still is to change that.

In November of 2012, Rethreaded hired its first full-time employee. They empowered victims by giving them opportunities and allowing them to express their creativity through the women’s accessories they made. They purchased a custom stamp from Holmes Stamp and Sign that they used to brand themselves when they first began and still orders things like name tags, doing business with us regularly.

Over the past four years, Rethreaded has impacted the lives of 24 survivors in Jacksonville, provided over 17,000 hours of work to local survivors and helped to sustain the freedom of over 2,200 women internationally.

To support this magnificent cause, you can shop their products. They create and sell beautiful and unique accessories like scarves, bags, jewelry as well as home goods like coasters and plant hangers. Rethreaded even has pet toys! You also can contribute by hosting an event, volunteering your time and/or donating.

Visit their website at www.Rethreaded.com to learn more about their story and support their mission!

The Call Of Coffee

morning coffee picture — Photo courtesy of Huffington Post

If you believe that everything gets better with coffee, you may not be able to buy happiness but you can buy an iced frappuccino that comes pretty close, and that a yawn is nothing more than a scream for something caffeinated – you might be addicted to the rise and grind mantra of coffee lovers all over the world. But don’t worry you’re not alone! According to a 2014 article by Huffington Post, it is estimated that nearly 83% of adults in America drink some form of coffee. Morning coffee runs, full cups, mugs, tumblers, and thermoses have become one of the few things that unites us as human being regardless of race, religion, or politics. Yes, coffee makes the world go round. Go ahead and try to think of an office that lacks a coffee maker, we’ll wait.

Anything? We didn’t think so. In all honesty, the world’s addiction to coffee is nothing new. The earliest origin story of coffee dates back to the 4th-6th century in Ethiopia, according to the National Coffee Association USA, it was a goat herder first discovered the effects of coffee “it is said that Kaldi discovered coffee after noticing that his goats, upon eating berries from a certain tree, became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night. Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery who made a drink with the berries and discovered that it kept him alert for the long hours of evening prayer. The abbot shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery, and slowly knowledge of the energizing berries began to spread. As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would spread its reputation across the globe.” From humble beginnings, coffee spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and eventually to Europe and beyond. It has been estimated that by the mid 1600’s there were over 300 coffee houses in London alone. Brands like Starbucks, Maxwell House, and Keurig have made countless billions on our dependency on coffee. Today it would be a challenge to find somewhere coffee isn’t served.

coffee squirrel — Photo courtesy of quotesgram.com

Our own offices at Holmes Stamp & Sign are no different. At least one coffee cup can be found on almost every desk. Our stamps may run on ink but all of us certainly run on coffee. With that being said we’ve created a whole host of coffee mug designs perfect for any individual style. All of our mugs have been painstakingly created by our design team and printed by our dedicated employees. Dishwasher and microwave safe, our mugs stand the test of time, even after cup after cup after cup of piping hot coffee.

Are you like us? Does your day just not feel right unless you’ve got a healthy amount of caffeine coursing through your veins? Be sure to check out all of our coffee cup designs and styles! Have a request for a special design? We want to hear about it! Sound off in the comments section below and we’ll do our best to make it happen!

An Early Holiday Gift From Our Standout CEO

It’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season here at Holmes Stamp & Sign! Even if it may not look like it outside, we’re beginning to feel the effects of Jack Frost and Old Man Winter here in North Florida despite the fact that some of our northern neighbors are already finding themselves, not to mention their vehicles, fully submerged in icy snow. And while we may not be able to see any snow on the ground, there are other ways for us to tell just what time of the year it is. Our production floor is jam packed with brand new products being made, our shipping offices are overflowing with packages to be sent out, and there is more than just one new face wandering our halls helping us out during our annual holiday rush!

HSC Bryan Croft Breakfast 2 — Our very own CEO Mr. Bryan Croft himself alongside his daughter Avery.

This year our very own CEO Bryan Croft decided to do something extra special for all of his employees. On the morning of the start of our busiest month of the year, he decided to wake up early, grab his daughter, pack up the car, and beat everyone else to work. As we all began to trickle in through the doors bundled up in our coats and scarves, we immediately noticed something was different in our warehouses. Curious, we followed the sounds and smells coming from the break room and discovered the both Bryan and his daughter, serving up a massive breakfast spread intended for everyone in the company to enjoy! Wasting no time, we dug in and got to work for the day! When all was said and done, our team of 68 employees had devoured 156 fresh pancakes, 5 gallons of orange juice, 4 lbs. of bacon, 3 lbs. of sausage, two boxes of Dunkin Donuts coffee, and more maple syrup than we knew what to do with! Was this a bit unexpected? Absolutely. Was this an unpleasant experience? Never! The super special breakfast gift from our caring and considerate CEO was just the thing we needed to get us in the holiday spirit!

We couldn’t have been any more surprised or thankful when we walked in and saw all of the food ready and waiting for us! With the holiday season comes, longer hours, tighter deadlines, and lots of coffee runs! That’s why mornings such as these are just one of the many examples that makes working at Holmes Stamp & Sign so great! We’re proud to consider ourselves one big happy stamping family – especially during this time of the year where things can get particularly hectic!

Looking to get the best deals going into the holiday season? Our high quality products make great gifts for yourself or your loved ones. Sign up for our exclusive mailing list offers and skip the lines, and save!

Worried about getting your items in time for the holidays? Don’t be! We work extra hard to get all of your items shipped within one business day! Place your order today and enjoy spending more time with your family and friends than out at the mall!