Category Archives for Trade Tips

The Power Of Bags

ultimate2In a recent study, the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) conducted a national survey of end buyers to determine the effectiveness of promotional products versus other advertising media, and the results highlighted the effectiveness of bags as an advertising vehicle.   Besides what we see at the retail stores, eco alternatives are increasingly used to replace paper or plastic on our grocery runs; trade show attendees often receive a lightweight bag at registration to carry all the literature and giveaways; and even the humble brown paper lunch bag and upscale wine bottle totes have gotten bag makeovers.  How do all these bags give corporate marketing departments better brand power?   See below for the highlights of that ASI study:

  • Bags were reported to be one of the most frequently-used promotional products, nearly 6 times per month – even more than shirts or caps.
  • Bags made the highest number of marketing “impressions” during their use, approximately 1,084 per month. This was more than twice the number for caps or writing instruments, and 3 times number of impressions made by shirts.
  • Even more remarkable, bags were kept a long time, nearly 7 months. That’s more than 7,200 marketing impacts over the life of the bag!
  • 88% said their reason for keeping a bag was because it was considered “useful”. The second most cited reason was its “attractiveness”.
  • 82% of recipients said they could clearly identify the advertiser who gave them the bag and 45% said they now had a “more favorable” impression of the advertiser. Best of all, 59% reported doing business with the advertiser after receiving the bag!
  • The overall “cost-per-impression” for bags averages only $0.001. That’s less expensive than traditional media such as prime time TV ($0.018), cable TV ($0.005) or national magazines ($0.045). When measured against other promotional product categories, bags scored equally as well. Bags have a lower cost-per-impression than calendars ($0.003), drinkware ($0.004), shirts ($0.005) and business accessories ($0.008).

Bags are extremely effective marketing and branding vehicles, giving companies a better return on their investment.  Few promotional products are more powerful, so consider one of the thousands of different bag styles when looking at options for your next branded giveaway.

(Image and data courtesy of Bag Makers)  

Create A Successful Incentive Program In Six Steps

carrotIncentive programs are essential drivers of employee motivation, loyalty and morale.  Regardless of the size of the company or the budget, successful incentive programs will recognize outstanding employees; make good employees great, and give the lowest performers the opportunity to become more focused on skills improvement and positive results.  These programs can be structured for a company-wide audience intended to boost employee morale or improve the customer experience – or they can be designed to target just one department that may be working on a time-sensitive project that requires long hours and razor sharp focus.

In any case, getting started can be the most difficult part of creating a successful incentive  program.  Beginning with a simple outline will help the conversation get started.

  1. Set Your Goals:   Figure out what you hope to achieve when the program ends.   You may want to increase warehouse productivity, improve safety or simply reduce the amount of time your call-in customers are kept on “hold”.   You can have more than one goal, and most likely you will have different goals for each group of participants.
  2. Determine How You Will Measure ROI:    A variety of metrics can be employed, such as number of packages shipped, monthly sales, lost-time accidents, etc.   Decide how you will measure the results, and assign someone to manage that data.
  3. Decide The Budget:    You need a budget for the entire program, and a breakdown of how that budget will be spent over the course of the program. For example, $20,000 for the whole program budget; $4000 disbursed quarterly; and the balance allocated to the top achievers at the end of the year.
  4. Select Award Items:    Premium merchandise, customized items and possibly travel are all options for outstanding programs.   The best programs avoid cash or gift cards so that the rewards become individual goals that each person identifies, such as a gas grill, TV or weekend getaway (for the larger programs) – or brand-name apparel, sports gear or the newest small tech gadget (for the smaller budgets).
  5. Launch The Program Loudly!   Create excitement with an employee kickoff meeting and a low-cost giveaway (pen, mug, phone decal, etc) printed with the company logo and program message.   Keep the message alive with emails, posters, and follow-up small gift reminders.
  6. Build The Buzz!    Engage everyone as often as possible.  Announce monthly winners; post daily or weekly figures on how close you are to the goal; keep up the email communication with program reminders.

There are many industry polls and statistics that prove how well incentive programs work to motivate employees.   Now that we are at the beginning a of a new year, with new goals and challenges, choose to lay the groundwork for a successful incentive program and enjoy the rewards that will follow.  Six steps will get you started!

In 2014, Resolve To Shake Things Up

shakersNew Year’s resolutions range from ambitious (lose 30 pounds in 30 days); to vague (be a better person); to practical (reduce Starbucks trips from every day to twice a week).  In business, as in our personal lives, positive change is always the goal when making these resolutions.   And when you resolve to shake things up by abandoning complacency and embracing an entirely new approach to building your brand, that change can be surprisingly rewarding.

“Shaking things up” will mean something different for every firm.  Most companies know how they want their brand to be perceived,  but only a few can afford to pay for high profile advertising campaigns to bring that message to the consumer.  Apple always comes to mind when we think of creative branding efforts, and who can forget the E-Trade baby or the Budweiser frog?  However, considering that not every company enjoys that type of marketing budget, there are other ways to build your brand through interesting and unexpected methods of engagement.

Consider the following:

  • Host an event:  use music, videos and lots of social interaction to introduce your next product or service
  • Poll your customers:  with inexpensive on-line tools like SurveyMonkey there is no reason not to get the pulse of your audience through brief, focused surveys
  • Engage in social media:  Facebook and Twitter are a great place to start, but consider branching out into Instagram, Google+ and Twitter’s Vine for micro-videos
  • Extreme brand makeover:  bring your team together to consider what marketing touch points could use a makeover (printed materials, bags, pens, auto graphics, employee uniforms, etc)
  • Cause-branding:  partner with a non-profit or cause-based institution to raise social awareness while increasing corporate profits

This year’s resolution should be to consider new and exciting ways to build your brand.  Ask your internal associates, customers and vendor partners to offer ideas – you may be surprised how fun it can be to shake things up!

It Is All About The Presentation

gift wrapCorporate gift giving is serious business.  It helps establish or enhance important relationships with customers and employees.  Different than an incentive award given to high achievers, or promotional products used as advertising, the corporate gift should affirm the personal relationship between the giver and the recipient.  And there’s no better way to achieve that sense of partnership than with heart felt attention to the details around the presentation of the gift.

Investing in nice wrapping paper, unique embellishments and quality card stock with a hand written note makes a statement about the value of not only the gift itself, but of the thought behind it.  Keeping in mind that creative ideas for gift wrapping don’t have to include elaborate bows or Martha Stewart crafting talents, I have listed below a few simple ways to upgrade your next gift presentation.

  • Wrap the gift box in single color wrapping paper that matches your corporate color with wide logo ribbon tied in a simple bow
  • Use brightly colored handle bags for small gifts, stuffed with logo tissue paper, and labeled with the recipient’s name
  • Add plain colored tissue or crinkle paper inside a box or bag that comes in a coordinating color; seal with a simple single color logo label
  • For baskets, bags or odd-shaped boxes, use translucent gift wrap secured with an extra long metallic twist tie that holds a large colorful hang tag
  • Put locally sourced food items inside a customized gift tin or colorful gabled box custom printed with the company logo or seasonal message

Of course, most corporate associates are working hard on the tasks associated with their daily jobs and have little time left over for wrapping gifts.  Understandable, but not a reason to avoid this important part of the gift giving process.  Gift wrapping is often offered for a small fee, or included in the added value services of your promotional products provider.   The next time you work with her or him on a corporate gift idea, make a point to ask about their service options for improving the presentation.

(Image via olderandwiser.com)

Is Your Content Marketing Strategy Working?

social-media-management1A new survey from Unisphere Research states that “Seven out of ten executives report they are employing social media to distribute content … with Facebook and Twitter being the leading platforms for customer engagement and content marketing”.  This information may not be surprising news to most marketing executives, but the reality is  “only 25% actually measure the results of the individual pieces of content they produce and distribute.”

If a company is going to allocate time and resources to content marketing strategies, there must be an equal focus on gathering and measuring the return on that investment.  It’s not enough to capture information on customer engagement driven through the various social media channels when the ultimate reason for reaching out to those customers is increasing brand awareness, reducing costs and growing sales.

In the book Managing Content Marketing by Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi measuring the impact of your content marketing strategy is determined and outlined by creating a “Content Marketing Pyramid”, which includes the following three sections.

  • Primary content indicators: Primary indicators are the types of measurements that you want to capture (e.g., sales, costs savings, retention rates).
  • Secondary content indicators: Secondary indicators are the types of measurements that help make the case for primary indicators (e.g., lead quality, lead quantity, shorter sales cycles).
  • User indicators: These are the types of measurements that the content “doers” need to look at to help drive the secondary indicators (e.g., web traffic, “likes,” page views, search rankings).

The authors go on to explain how to segment the pyramid, with user indicators at the base (for the analytics team), the secondary content indicators in the middle (for managers reporting) and the primary content indicators at the top (for C-suite reporting).   The specific metrics depend on the organization’s individual objectives, but everyone has the same goal – improve the process.

Spending the time to pull together this information and putting that data into a format that everyone can relate to will help the organization to understand how well their content marketing strategy is working and where adjustments need to be made.   Developing a game plan to measure the impact of that strategy should be at the top of your New Year’s resolution list!

Cold Weather Staple: Fashion Fleece

fashion fleeceWhen it’s important for your brand to be seen in more places than just the customer’s backyard, fleece garments with fashionable styling, lighter weight fabrics and better fit are an option that has grown in popularity.  And since branded apparel purchases are generally more costly than the average promotional product, selecting a style that many consumers would choose for themselves is the best way to get the biggest return on those limited marketing funds.

The trends in retail fashion influence the corporate clothing market, and now that market offers styles that range from rustic, casual fleece jackets to polished, sleek options with contrasting drawcords and white metallic zippers. Performance fabrics provide warmth with less weight, and moisture-wicking technology draws perspiration away from the body in order to maintain warmth and dry skin.  Color choices range from earth tones to jewel tones, while always maintaining the classic white, black and navy for the more conservative crowd.  Even with classic college-style crewneck and hoodie sweatshirts, corporate apparel suppliers have answered the call with distressed fabrics, hockey style laced fronts and retro styling.

Gone are the days when the choices for branded sweatshirts and fleece jackets were limited to four basic (or some might say “boring”) styles offered in three colors and the five standard men’s sizes.  Enlist creative thinking and consider your audience when choosing the best fashion fleece for that next executive premium or customer gift-with-purchase – the improved brand awareness and customer appreciation will be worth it!

(Image via Tri-Mountain)

Domestic Manufacturing Makes Sense Again

american madeAccording to a survey by Boston Consulting Group in September, 2013, “More than half of the US-based manufacturing executives at companies with sales greater than $1 billion are planning to bring back production to the US from China …”.  From the viewpoint of these executives, this decision makes good financial sense.

There are 3 main considerations that are driving this movement:

  1. Labor costs:   cited by 43 percent of respondents
  2. Proximity to customers:  cited by 35 percent of respondents
  3. Product quality:  cited by 34 percent of respondents

Other factors include access to skilled labor, transportation costs, supply-chain lead time and ease of doing business.  Especially when considering products that will be sold in the US, when the cost of all of these elements are added together, manufacturing in the US begins to look more appealing as compared to the increasingly costly and complicated nature of importing from China and other off-shore countries.

In addition, while the economics of onshoring makes economic sense for the manufacturer, the social impact of adding factory and related service jobs to the US market must be appreciated as a renaissance for the American workers and consumers alike.  This revival will spark new employee training and re-training of current company associates; facilities improvements; enhanced customer service levels; faster production turn-around; and higher product quality.

Now that domestic manufacturing makes sense again, it will be easier than ever to find affordable USA-made products that can carry your corporate logo.  Consider the possibilities when discussing the next marketing project with your branded merchandise specialist!

Get Charged Up!

iBar_ChartsMobile phones, tablets, MP3 players – in our personal and business lives, much of our time is spent on-the-go, connecting with others through our battery charged devices.  They give us the ability to work from the car, listen to music while mowing the lawn and talk to family members on the way to catching the next flight.  So when considering end-of-year corporate gifts, a perfect gender-neutral option that everyone can use would be a portable battery pack for all those devices that keep  us linked to rest of our world.

Mobile chargers come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes.  Some offer LED lights, others come equipped with dual USB ports – but all are built to offer convenience, practical effectiveness and size-appropriate dimensions to accommodate the pocket on a tight pair of a college students jeans or the jacket of the CEO’s business suit.   These devices are designed to appeal not just to the tech-savvy consumer, but more to the mainstream users of all sorts of mobile tools.

Considering their universal appeal, it makes sense that any customer would be pleased to receive a branded mobile charger, but what does the corporate giver get in return?

  • Logo Visibility:  the imprint area is usually generous, which gives the corporate logo a high profile
  • Brand Identity:  every time the user plugs in, the corporate brand will be reinforced
  • Positive Brand Association:  giving gifts that reflect the current trends shows corporate awareness of customer habits and lifestyle
  • Customer Loyalty:  customers support the brands that offer products and services that appeal to their emotions as well as servicing their needs
  • Increased Sales:  positive brand identity + expanding customer loyalty = increased sales

This holiday season, consider giving a gift that will get your customers charged up!

(Image via Idol Memory)