I see London, I see France, I see promotional underpants!

Okay, let's get the blushing out of the way, yes I said it underwear and yes it has it's own place in the promotional industry and it should hold a category in your apparel sales arsenal. Now, while your clients may feel desensitized to the novelty of the branded apparel items that they have used for giveaways over the years, it's almost guaranteed that intimate apparel will still hold a great deal of novelty and interest and defiantly humor for all involved. Intimates are also at a great price point for small giveaways and promotions. For the price of a mug or a T shirt you can get two or three times the impact with using intimates.

While not often actually seen when worn by customer, underwear does pack a large promotional punch. But the category can be sensitive to many. Intimates are personal and have strong associations, positive and negative, for many people. It's important to remember that the mere mention of a thong or bikini can catch clients off guard when presented. Since underwear can seen risque to some clients, please feel your clients out to see what would be appropriate for them.

Some clients are perfect customers for intimate apparel, think of liquor distributors and bars not the ultra conservative financial institution. I don't think we will see Wells Fargo on a thong any time soon! A college campus giveaway or spring break promotion will be much happier with their name stretched across a boy short then a grocery store, so please think of your client first!

With the right client with a young and progressive brand intimates can communication their message effectively and reach their target audience.

The new fasion trend- PLAID!

Plaid has made its way into the corporate apparel market, inspired from the Brit tartan look. Showcased in Fall 2009 by Christopher Kane, DKNY, and Bottega Veneta, this season's plaid patters opt for a less traditional palette consisting of blacks, greys, blues, and browns with wider striping. The plaid styles are great for men and women and is versatile across client bases. Plaid adds some excitement to an item, while still being conservative. Plaid dress shirts are hot sellers for corporate customers who want something different when using promotional apparel. When clients are spending money, especially right now, they want to get the most bang for their buck and plaid is doing that. Plaid is unique because it features both color and simulated texture in its design. It's best when worn one piece at a time, for example a plaid shirt with solid pants. Less busy busy patterns work better for office settings.

So next time you go to order your corporate apparel, look into plaid, its different and classic!

News Flash! Use Flash drives!

Offer Big Marketing Opportunities USB flash drives - also often referred to as thumb drives or jump drives - act as reusable portable hard drives. These small units - about the size of a pack of gum - can easily be carried in a pocket, worn around the neck like a necklace or used as a key chain by your clients and prospects. There are even USB flash pens - with the flash drive "hidden" inside the writing utensil.

USB flash drives plug directly into your Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of a computer and are typically built to hold between 64 megabytes and 2 gigabytes of data. The popularity of flash drives have grown significantly over the past several years as storage capacities have increased and USB-enabled computers have become ubiquitous. The popularity and capabilities of flash drives has led to the advent of flash drive marketing.

The use of USB flash drives as effective marketing tools is continuing to evolve for forward thinking marketing professionals.

Thumb drives can be stamped with a company’s logo and as a result, custom logo USB drives have become trade show and convention favorites.

Companies are giving branded custom logo flash drives to key customers and prospects providing them with an instant reminder of your company every time they use the flash drive to transfer files or back up a document. Providing your customers (and potential customers) with a branded custom logo USB flash delivers a great way to market by keeping your brand in front of customers while giving them something of real value they will use over and over.

Throw one hell of a party!

With the economy taking a nosedive companies and individuals have to get the most out of their marketing materials. Many have started using promotional products to function in more than one way, thus stretching their dollar. Follow their lead and not only save some money in your budget, but also, join the ranks of the likes of Sean "P.Diddy" Combs as a noted innovator when it comes to throwing one heck of a party!

While advertising and event promotions can get the word out about you and your event, promotional products offer an avenue for more freedom and creativity. In order to do this, choose a promotional product that can serve more than one purpose at your event. If you are, for example, planning a wine tasting event, use a promotional product that can serve as your invitation as well as a nice gift for your attendees. On the wine glass, engrave your name, event and time and place. This gives both the company and event as sense of class and sophistication. It shows that your company can use innovative and creative ways to reach the audiences. This gets your guests excited and curious about the event so they absolutely can’t miss it.

Also, by using a promotional product as an invitation, your company and product get more use and have a longer self life. It remains visible for weeks before and after the party. And, what’s more if you choose a reusable product like a wine glass, every time the guest reuse the product they remember you and that specific event. Promotional products that serve as invitations have a timeless appeal that will generate constant branding and recognition of your company. A promotional product can build product and brand loyalty especially when connected to a memorable event. Your clients and guest will want more of you when they realize the extent to which you would go to please them.

Furthermore, when you use a promotional product for more than one purpose at an event, you can save some bucks. Many components play an important role in creating a successful event. You must include the invitation, printed materials like posters, napkins and coasters and awards and plaques, and the ever important gift bag. In order to save money without cutting corners consider combing the function of the promotional products. Instead of just serving as the invitation to your event, choose a product that works as both the gift and the invite. This saves you some stress and thanks the guests for coming before the event even starts.

At P. Diddy’s 29th birthday party, he used a promotional product as an invitation and gift for his guests. They received a leather-bound photo album filled with pictures for his previous parties. So, for your next event consider pulling a "Diddy" and combine the purpose of your promotional product. Get creative and practical at the same time to stand out and make an impressive impression for your brand on your entire audience.

Taking Risk Part 2

This promotional strategy doesn’t require the risk to your company or your job, which you might initially assume.You give away cash or large prizes. Everyone likes to win and most people like to see others win. As long as you protect yourself and company with promotional risk coverage, you will also be the winner. Your prize offerings are based on the odds of a winner claiming the prize. As long as your promotional strategy does not include a guaranteed prize offering as the only prize, your company can include promotional risk coverage with the promotion. Promotional risk coverage can be found in promotions like you see on television, hear on the radio, read in newspapers, magazines, see online or in Internet marketing promotions. They offer the consumer a chance to win, and when there is a winner, your company is protected against having to pay the winner. Much like you insure your car from an accident or your home from a natural disaster, you can cover your promotion against a risk associated with the liabilities of giving away large valued prize amounts. The cost of promotional risk is minimal, literally a fraction of the prize value, and is based on the promotional odds, the prize value, and the number of chances given to win the promotion.

The strategy behind marketing promotions, which include promotional risk coverage, is simple and enables companies to differentiate brands in a very competitive market. Promotional risk covered promotions open up possibilities to offer larger prizes than most companies can afford, or would want to take promotional risk on. These large prizes are proven to increase registrations of online users, traffic in stores, and sales at any given time, leads generated both offline and online promotions, and build large brands through consumer loyalty.The strategy is to include a prize offering, which can be based on a game of skill, game of chance, or the redemption of an offer.

With Games of Skill, you could include promotional risk coverage in offering someone a chance to win up to $1,000,000 in a sports promotion.You have probably seen such games of skill in basketball promotions of a random fan shooting a basketball from half court.A football promotion might include a punt or throwing contest, or a hole in one coverage for golf promotions and tournaments.

Games of Chance are found in online marketing promotions and Internet marketing, with sweepstakes, online contests and games.You might see them in offline promotions for trade shows and events where B2B marketers or consumer marketers are holding drawings to increase traffic to events, increase customer response and generate leads.

Promotional risk coverage can be included in marketing promotions to protect companies against over redemption of coupon offerings and fix promotional marketing budgets for both consumer and B2B marketing strategies.Conditional offerings, such as conditional weather rebates, can add to marketing promotions to engage consumer involvement in the promotion and increase promotional coverage and public relations of the marketing effort.

Over redemption coverage allows promotional risk coverage to prevent the variable costs associated to budgeting of a marketing promotion when there is uncertainty about your program’s response rate or outcome. Promotional risk companies cover the cost of excess redemption's or responses, whatever the value of the prize, rebate, coupon, or premium. This allows you to plan promotional expenses to the penny, eliminate budget overruns for higher than expected response, and stretch promotional dollars for a maximum market impact.

The bottom line is magnified during the current economic climate, within every department of every business, small or large.To drive business in a recession, or any economic downturn, marketers must find new ways to gain and maintain market share.Those who realize that the success and longevity of their brand is in the hands of the American consumer will stand far ahead of the competitor.In order to engage the consumer and gain brand loyalty, the savvy marketer provides that consumer with benefits which will entice reaction.Consumers react to what they perceive is in their best interest.Find that formula in promotional risk coverage and you will benefit.

Should you take a risk!?

Promotional Risk… Is it worth it? Over the past decade, there has been tremendous growth in consumer and business product releases, bringing challenges to consumer and business to business marketers to differentiate brands. The ever changing media market increases the complexities, for both offline and online marketing professionals. The combined formula, with the recent recession and ongoing downturn of this economy, leaves marketers with an environment that is unique to any year in history, with a challenge that only the riskiest of marketers will survive. Are you willing to bet your marketing, advertising, public relations or promotions career on your willingness to take a risk? If you do not include this risk in your promotional strategy, while your competitor does, what will happen? Will your marketing competitor win market share that you have lost or will the safe road you have taken pay off? It is my experience that you must take the promotional risk.You are about to learn why you should include promotional risk coverage in marketing strategy to engage the consumer and secure a larger market share, during this recession.Follow these simple steps in marketing promotions strategy and build big brands that will stand the test of time.

There is no argument that consumers are responding to large cash and prize giveaways. Your marketing research can stop with the review of network programming you find in recent shows like Deal or No Deal, Price Is Right, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, and the many other network promotions which include large prize and cash offerings to both gain consumer loyalty and increase ratings. Radio and television stations, newsprint and magazine publications, online and offline companies alike are all tapping into the simplest of strategy to increase viewers, visitors and readership, while gaining promotional affiliations and sponsorships.The strategy is simple. They are taking promotional risk.

Choosing different promotions and giveaways!

Small businesses, which usually have limited advertising budgets, often resort to unconventional methods to promote themselves. Two of the most common types of "small business" methods are cross promotions and freebies, or giveaways. Let’s take a look at each, along with some pros and cons.

A cross promotion is leveraging the success or popularity of another business for your own good. In a cross promotion, you work with another business to (hopefully) increase sales for both companies. For example, you might offer free commercial color printing services from a commercial printer to any customer who buys a monthly subscription to your service. Or you could offer free movie tickets to any customer who buys your new product. Either way, you are working with another company to promote sales. The benefits of cross promotions are obvious. If you are able to work out a deal with an established and reputable business in the area, then you are on the right track. Associating with a business that is already popular can significantly enhance the reputation of your company. It can be difficult for a new small business to establish itself in the minds of the customers, but partnering with a business that is already well entrenched can really moves that process along.

There is a possible negative involved, however. If the company you have partnered with has a serious problem at some point, and loses some of its luster, it could impact negatively on your own efforts. This is not likely, and even if it did happen, the effects would probably not last long. Still, the possibility is there and is worth noting. If it were to happen, one way to help combat the negative effects is to actively promote your separation from the offending company. You can do this by designing an attractive commercial color printing that extols your own company’s virtues and qualities, and distributing that to as many customers as possible.

Freebies

Giveaways are another popular tactic used by start up small businesses. In a giveaway, you literally give away one of your products, or some of your services, to customers in an attempt to increase profits or to establish an identity for yourself. This is done in a variety of different ways. You could offer a free one-hour massage in the hopes that customers who take advantage of it will be so pleased that they will come back for more. You could give your customers a free ball cap for every two that they buy at regular price. Giveaways, if done properly, can enhance a company’s success, especially in its early stages. If you have a quality product or service and are just trying to introduce it to people, a giveaway can help you achieve that goal rather quickly. And if you are looking for cost effective advertising options, freebies are definitely an option you should consider.

However, you must use giveaways sparingly, and with care. Sometimes, freebies devalue your product. In other words, giving something away for free can lead customers to consider that product to be cheap, even if it is not. It becomes less valuable in the customer’s mind, which is certainly not a good thing. To avoid that problem, only give away a product for free if you pair it with another product that is already well established as a valuable item. If you are giving away a free service, do not overdo it by offering so much that it devalues your work. Basically, if you try to think like your customers, you will be fine.