● Display poster boards as signage; point-of-sale merchandising; visual aids for business meeting presentations, employee
training and trade shows; or promotions of
upcoming special events.
● Use photobooks as a portfolio of your
work or as a print collection for sale, such as
of your art, photography or recipes.
● Mail photo cards to your current and
prospective clients as announcements of a
business relocation, upcoming sales event,
new homes for sale, new products or services,
new staff or as thank-you cards.
● Give calendars as holiday gifts to customers and vendors in appreciation, as a year-round showcase for your products and
services or as promotional sales tools.
● Create gallery-wrapped canvases to sell
to consumers and businesses as wall décor by
using any of the 20,000 high-quality images of
fine art, photography and illustrations from
Costco’s Art & Image Gallery. C
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 83
Kreta Chandler is an author, photographer
and customer-experience architect.
Connecting
Many cost-effective products can be created at your local Costco warehouse or
online and picked up in an hour. View these
and other photo gifts online at Costco.com
(click “Photo”).
Of love and war— and Costco COSTCO MEMBER Charles Hammer of Shawnee, Kansas (hammerc12@gmail. com) created a greeting card at the 1-Hour Photo Center to promote his book. Here’s his story. I found it easy on Costco.com, as my Civil War novel cover accompanying this article proves. Log into the site’s photo section and upload a photo or other image from your computer. That accomplished, click on “Photo Gifts,” then choose 6-by- 7½-inch greeting cards. The site offers many seasonal cards, but it’s better to click “More” to reach “Generic” or— best of all—“Custom Template.” You can edit most pictures to fit that emplate, but it’s better to choose one with
roughly the same proportions. Preview the
card, pop it into the shopping cart and
check the bill: $14.99 plus tax for 50 photo
cards in lustre finish with nice envelopes.
A set of 25 more costs $5.49. You can mail
each card for 44 cents.
Often within two hours of submitting
the order you can pick it up at your local
warehouse. I asked Amber and Katie, the
photo experts at my Lenexa, Kansas, warehouse, to omit the faint order number that
routinely appears on the card’s reverse.
Charles Hammer’s book
promotion card
Then, with my home inkjet printer, I
added on the back the novel’s plot summary titled “Breaking Slave Shackles.” On
photo paper the ink is slow to dry and may
smear. Catch the printed cards as they
emerge from the printer and keep them
separated until dry.
I was pleased with the result: a profes-sional-looking way to promote my novel at
a bargain price. C
A solar panel combined with a large-capacity rechargeable battery enables these impressive solar timepieces to run smoothly under any light with no battery replacement.
ALSO FEATURES:
Multi-Band 5 Atomic Timekeeping
Digital Compass
Altimeter
Barometer
Thermometer
PAW1100-1VWC
Item #324794
WAREHOUSE ONLY | AVAILABLE EARLY NOVEMBER
84 ;e Costco Connection NOVEMBER 2011
