Maker Meetup & Small Business Marketing with The UPS Store

*This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AmericanMakers #CollectiveBias*
 
Owning a small business is a ton of work – if you own one yourself, or know someone who does, then you don’t need me to tell you that. One of my favorite celebrities, Martha Stewart, is a massive supporter of small business, makers, and creative entrepreneurs. She annually hosts Martha Stewart American Made – an event that highlights some of America’s most exciting small businesses. This year, the headlining sponsor is The UPS Store. I joined The UPS Store at the UPS Maker Meetup Event – a sort of preview of American Made – at The Center for Social Innovation, and it was pretty awesome!
 
Martha Stewart American Made
 
As one of the first to arrive, I was able to watch as The UPS Store quickly became the hub of activity at the Meetup, which was really no wonder as they had an amazing Prints to Live By setup going, complete with an illustrator creating personalized images! I’m going to be completely honest with you all here, I get ridiculously excited about things like this. I come from a family of very artistic and talented people, so being able to be in an environment of creatives as well as have something completely personalized created for me on the spot is frankly, very, very cool.
 
The UPS Store Maker MeetupThe UPS Store Prints to Live By
 
I wish I had gotten the artist’s name – but she was so focused, churning out gorgeous calligraphy, that I didn’t want to interrupt her and ask. I had a Hercule Poirot quote made – my sister, the small business owner in my family, is a massive fan of the Poirot book and BBC series and I just knew she would love to have his favorite phrase hanging on her wall! It came out so well, they even framed it right there – thanks The UPS Store!
 
Other amazing innovators at the event included Mel’s Melting pot – a local husband and wife team that are dedicated to producing flavorful condiments using both local and international ingredients, and my personal favorite was artisan Nutty Spread. Nutty Spread is an organic, fair trade, hazelnut chocolate spread that’s dairy free. I was speaking to the owner about Nutty Spread (which is delicious by the way) and was so impressed with his commitment to producing a delicious and fair trade spread that uses only the best ingredients.
 
The UPS Store EventPrints to Live By Canvas Bag
 
As it happens, my sister – who owns an etsy shop and teaches independent art classes – was looking to quickly create some marketing materials for her the art courses that she’s teaching at a local community center. Naturally, I turned to The UPS Store. If you haven’t heard, The UPS Store is now offering more than just shipping, they also offer amazing printing services – which is perfect for the small business owner. Need to print out a large poster? Some flyers on the fly? The UPS Store has got you covered! They even have some pre-set design options that actually look great.
 
The UPS Store’s #PrintstoLiveBy campaign is focusing on all the amazing printing options offered by The UPS Store, including banners, posters, brochures, business cards, catalogs, copies, envelopes, flyers, forms, greeting cards, invitations, magnets, manuals, menus, newsletters, postcards, presentations, and reports! Whew! Pretty much anything you’re looking to print, I’d say – oh, and 3D Printing as well! You can follow along by using the hashtag and following @theupsstore on Twitter and Instagram.
 
Make a Poster at UPS StorePoster Design The UPS StorePoster from UPSUPS Poster Printing
 
We had some poster designs created, chose our favorite out of all of them, and uploaded it to The UPS Store’s online printing store. If you’re conveniently located to a UPS Store they might split your order so you can pick up some items in store, and others will be shipped to you. My sister has moved her art classes to a new location and was looking to print a couple of posters as well as flyers, during the process of choosing the best materials (The UPS Store offers various options) we spoke to a customer service associate who was very accommodating. Our order came out wonderful – we’re so excited with how they turned out, that we’re already planning on ordering more!
 
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1 Comment

  1. November 6, 2015 / 6:17 pm

    That sounds like such an amazing and inspiring event. I love how The UPS Store has changed so much from my initial perception – being able to make this a one stop shop is huge. #client

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