Quark Launches New Web-to-Print Service for Small Businesses

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quark announced today the launch of QuarkPromote.com (www.quarkpromote.com), a new online service that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses in the United States easily create their own high-quality, professional marketing materials that can be picked up at a nearby neighborhood printer or received by mail in just a few days. The easy-to-use service allows people with no previous design or printing experience to customize professionally designed templates for business cards, postcards, flyers, brochures, appointment cards, coupons, letterhead and envelopes.

“QuarkPromote.com is a natural extension of our company’s mission to be the leading provider of design and publishing technology for customers of all sizes — whether they’re professional designers, large corporate customers, or small businesses”

QuarkPromote.com is:

Easy-to-Use: Anyone familiar with common office software can create marketing materials in three easy steps. Customers first browse through a selection of free, professionally designed templates, complete with suggested marketing text and stock photos. Then they customize the template with information about their company and, when finished, place their printing order to be picked up at a nearby printer or received by mail.
Professional: Customers can choose from among hundreds of templates to create one marketing piece or an entire matching set of items. Templates are created by professional designers using Quark’s leading design software, QuarkXPress 8, and can be sorted by product or industry.
Affordable: QuarkPromote.com offers four-color, 2-sided materials printed on high-quality paper and standard 5-7 day delivery by mail at a competitive price. There are no hidden fees, and shipping is free.
Convenient: Only QuarkPromote.com provides customers the speed and convenience of ordering materials for quick, easy pickup at a nearby printer, often in three days or less, at no extra charge. Major print franchises and independent printers across the U.S. have partnered with QuarkPromote.com, including Allegra Network, AlphaGraphics, PIP, Signal Graphics, and Sir Speedy.

“QuarkPromote.com is a natural extension of our company’s mission to be the leading provider of design and publishing technology for customers of all sizes — whether they’re professional designers, large corporate customers, or small businesses,” said Ray Schiavone, President and CEO of Quark. “We are entering a booming Web-to-Print market with an exciting offering that combines our 25 years of experience in design and publishing technology with our unparalleled knowledge of print production to offer small businesses an easy, professional, and affordable way to produce their printed marketing materials.”

Connecting Small Businesses to Professional Printers and Designers

QuarkPromote.com is unique in its ability to connect customers to local printers while simultaneously leveraging the strength of Quark’s professional designer community. Through the QuarkPromote.com printer program, franchise and independent printers across the U.S. can sign up to receive orders from QuarkPromote.com customers. “We are adding more printers every day. Printers of any type — large or small — that meet our high standards are invited to participate,” said Terry Welty, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Quark. “Together, we will be able to give customers a new level of speed and convenience for quickly and easily producing professional marketing materials.”

QuarkPromote.com will also include a free directory of professional graphic designers that customers can use to find a nearby designer should they need other types of specialized materials. The designer and customer can then work together to create a logo, advertisement, or other items that go beyond QuarkPromote.com templates. Interested designers can join by creating a free account at www.ilovedesign.com. Listings in the free directory will be available on QuarkPromote.com beginning in December.

Partners and Industry Leaders

Rich Lowe, President and COO of Franchise Services, Inc.

"Franchise Services, Inc., and our network of Sir Speedy, PIP, and Signal Graphics printing and marketing services franchise locations across the country, is pleased to join Quark in providing an easy and professional marketing solution to the small business community. The goal of Sir Speedy, PIP, and Signal Graphics is to offer small businesses the same type of Web-enabled customizable marketing materials and services previously available only to large companies. That goal fits hand-in-glove with QuarkPromote.com, which helps small businesses look as good as big businesses without the related expense. We look forward to being an integral part of QuarkPromote.com, to deliver the professional output and customer service QuarkPromote.com customers will expect, and are pleased with the opportunity QuarkPromote.com provides our franchisees."

Darnell Ghidotti, Vice President of Business Solutions, AlphaGraphics

“With QuarkPromote.com, Quark is offering small businesses the unique opportunity to connect with the hundreds of independently owned AlphaGraphics business centers across the United States. At AlphaGraphics we are focused on leveraging new and innovative ways to provide our clients complete marketing solutions for their visual communications needs. As a part of the QuarkPromote.com community of printers, we are pleased with the opportunity to provide a convenient and high-quality print experience to small businesses that need an efficient way to create high-quality yet affordable marketing material.”

Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus, RIT School of Print Media

“QuarkPromote.com merges professional design and neighborhood printing into one powerhouse of promotion. Templates allow small and medium business owners to harness the creativity of professional designers, and links to printing services put marketing materials a mouse-click away. The best thing is that the designs and the printing are done by Quark customers and partners. It’s all about being connected. This is big.”

Technical Requirements

QuarkPromote.com uses advanced technology that allows customers to edit their customized templates in a downloadable rich design application. This is substantially different from other Web-to-print offerings that generally rely on an editing process that can often be rigid and unreliable, limiting creativity and control. The QuarkPromote.com template editor is currently available for Windows, and the recommended system requirements are a Windows PC with 1GB RAM and a 512MB graphics card. Customers can contact QuarkPromote.com customer service with questions via e-mail and online chat: http://quarkpromote.quark.com/CustomerService.aspx.

For more information about QuarkPromote.com, visit www.quarkpromote.com.

About Quark

Quark® Inc. (www.quark.com) is a leading provider of publishing software for professional designers, small and mid-sized businesses, and large organizations in more than 160 countries. Two decades ago, our flagship product — QuarkXPress® — changed the course of traditional publishing. For more than 25 years, Quark has built on its knowledge and experience in design and publishing to provide software solutions that support collaborative workflows and automated publishing across multiple channels. Today, Quark is revolutionizing publishing again by setting new standards in XML-based publishing across print, the Web, and digital media as well as by helping small and mid-sized businesses promote their products and services easily, professionally, and affordably. Denver-based Quark Inc. is privately held.

Quark, the Quark logo, Quark Promote, QuarkPromote.com, and QuarkXPress are trademarks or registered trademarks of Quark, Inc. and its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.