How to Increase Profit Margins Step 2!

I will only say this once!! DO NOT COMPROMISE ON PRICE!

When distributors lack confidence in their products they immediately lower the price, which ultimately effects their bottom line. This comes out of fear of loosing the sale. Everyone figures that some money is better than none. Especially in this economy we have to keep every sale that we have in our hands. But truthfully maybe the sale should be lost if the profit margins cannot be maintained. The problem is when the owner has the mind of a salesman, you need to keep your businessman hat on and not put on your sales hat. It takes time to realize that the bottom line is more important then the top line.

The new Trend for 10- Vests!

The vest is becoming a fashion staple, and with winter in full swing in most parts of the country vests can be a great item to add to your wardrobe. A vest provides protection and warmth without the confines of a jacket. It's ideal when layering tee shirts or with sweaters or turtlenecks.

Vests come in many different styles, you can get dressy vests or casual outdoor vests for both women and men. Logo's can be embroidered or screen printed onto the front or back of the vest to make a great promo for either customers or employees.

Employees that work outdoors can also have a great use for vests. A car salesman, for example, when they go outside to show cars to customers can just throw on a puffy vest to stay warm in the winter, and with their company logo on the vest they are showing brand loyalty. Vests are also great for people who work indoors as well- a simple vest with a company logo embroidered on the chest can make employees look like a team, without the expense or hassle of having to order full uniforms. Employees can wear their own pants and shirt, but all wear a vest that matches. This look is very professional and is very easy for employees to care for, it's also very fashion forward. So do not count out the vest, it's making a comeback in 2010!

Still Using a Wall Calender?

Well your customers are! With the latest Blackberry's, iPhones, and other smart phones the battle has certainly been on with the traditional date keeper. Although many business men and women are keeping their schedules with smart phones or other electronic devices the traditional desk or wall calender is not quite as extinct as some would like to think. There is a calender is just about every kitchen in the country and best of all for distributors calender orders tend to represent a lot of recurring business this time of the year.

So despite the fact that most of us are toting around our lives in the palm of our hands print calenders remain a lucrative and profitable item. Part of the attractiveness of such a product lies in the ingenuity and innovation that companies are applying to traditional calenders. Ironically, the reach of traditional print calenders seems to extend even further than that of digital calenders. No longer restricted to the desk or wall, print calenders can be found on magnets and just about anything you can think of. Calenders are also used in conjunction with other promotional products- such as notepads, phone books, coupons, folders, or informational packets. Calenders are a great way to get your name out there and keep it out there- because people keep them all year long, so your company name and contact information is in front of your potential customers for 365 days a year!

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.

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.

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.

Finding new marketing ideas

Sometimes, the old methods are still the best way to go when it comes to building a business. In an ever competitive business world, this can often mean using promotional items to entice potential customers to become definite customers. The problem, of course, is you need to find some good "schwag" to entice them.

Promotional materials have been used by businesses for as long as one can remember. On the cheesy end of the marketing stick, you see them used in infomercials. You know, "…but that’s not all. You’ll get these handy, dandy knives plus…for only $19.99." You may laugh at these infomercials, but you would be wrong to do so. Why? They work.

Moving farther up the marketing scale, we find that promotional items are used all the time with "nicer" products. We often just don’t realize it. Consider a magazine like Sports Illustrated. How do they drive sales? They offer tote bags, clock radios, magazines customized to specific teams and so on if you will only subscribe for a year or two. Again, they wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t work.

If you have a business, you need to think about using promotional items to entice your potential clientele. The problem most businesses run into is figuring out what promotional items to use. Many in the industry refer to these items as "schwag". So, what schwag should you use?

Schwag comes in unique and run of the mill forms. We’ve all seen the coffee cups, pens, note pads, hats, shirts and so on with company names on them. This is run of the mill schwag. Since it is not unique, the chances of it having a positive effect on prospects is nominal.

Unique schwag is a much better choice. Unique makes you stick out. Sticking out makes people remember you. So, how do you find unique schwag? Avoid the "promotional companies." Instead, look for companies that produce a real product that also happen to private label it.

Also, focus on companies making products that are associated with your business niche. Nomad Journals makes a great travel journal that is available for private labeling. If you have a travel agency or other travel related company, it would make a tremendous promotional gift.

What if you have a "dry" profession? What could a lawyer, for instance, give away that their clients would enjoy. How about a free "lawyer jokes" book? It would definitely set you apart from other lawyers and probably make your client feel a bit better. A happy client results in referrals.

Whatever your business area, promotional items can make all the difference between success and failure. Take the time to consider the possibilities. You’ll be surprised how big a difference they can make to your bottom line.

Lipstick Pens

Need a great promotional product! Let me introduce you to the Lipstick Pen! This has become a must have for any business that has women as thier client's or as potential clients.

The lipstick pen is the size of a real lipstick and looks like a real lipstick until you pull off the "lipstick" to reveal a nice silver ball point pen. The "lipstick" comes in red, pink, purple, or blue.

These pens can be printed with your logo and contact information and are perfect for your next trade show. These are espically popular for bridal and beauty shows.

The pens start at $1.75 for 100 units- but the more you order the more you save. So ask today about our lipstick pens and how they can help get you noticed!

They don't follow up!

Here is where you can make or break your trade show experience- the entire point of having a booth at trade show is to get leads, and you must follow up with those leads after the show. Your job does not end when the show closes down, it's only beginning. You must follow up with your leads within 10 days of the show, the sooner the better. It can be an email, letter, or phone call, although it's always best to have voice to voice contact with your perspective contacts. Remember don't waste you time with the people who were not interested- you have already weeded out the time wasters- so you should only be calling interested parties!

Remember people will not call you, they most likely do not even remember you, they met tons of people at the show- you have to follow up with them and remind them that they need your products!

They don't recognize time wasters!

This is the most important part of trade shows in my opinion. You only have a set amount of time at a trade show- and most likely you have paid to be a part of the show- so you better get the most bang of your buck, and don't waste your time with people who are not interested in your products or are not your potential clients. Some people have no intention of doing business with you, but they love to chat and they love whatever it is you are giving away or they love whatever products are on your table. This is a qualifying issues- you need to learn to quickly assess the value of a visitor before investing too much talk time. You need to ask qualifying questions, "could you see yourself ordering 500 of these?" and show them a product. This may seem like you are pushing away smaller orders, you can still spend time with the smaller orders, but don't let that take all of your time. Get their card and call them the next day to talk. Or if you have someone that has a lot of questions explain that you would love to talk with them, and set up a time to either meet or just say I will call you tomorrow to continue this conversation. A trade show is not the time to have a 30 minute discussion with a potential client. Trade shows are a time to get leads, you follow up on those leads after the show, not during!
So remember QUALIFY FIRST, PRESENT LATER!

Know whos running your booth!

Many booth workers are assistants or adminstrative people who are being paid a flat hourly rate to simply work the show and man the booth. Guess what happens when you put an hourly paid employee in your booth? That's exactly what you get! Someone who watches the minutes tick by until they can leave?

If you must have an employee in the booth who is an hourly employee give them some incentives for working the booth. Give them a bonus for every qualify lead they bring in. Give them a reason to talk to the visitors and sell your products.

A little hint that I learned is to put attrative people in the booths. As sexist as this may sound- it works. If you are going to be a construction show, the visitors will be mostly men, so put good looking friendly women in the booths. If you are going to be at a home good show you want good looking rugged men who can woo the happy housewives as they look around the show. Just remember you want to put your best foot forward- this booth is your customers first impression of your company. So put your best people in the booth and let the rookies watch from the sidelines.

Do not ask "can I help you"?

A general rule in sales is to never ask a question that can be answered with a simple "no". You want to ask unique open ended questions that puts the visitor at ease, like "What unusual things have you seen at the show?" or "what have you seen that interests you?" These types of questions invite conversation. You want to converse with the show goers not bark orders and questions at them.

Or if you really want to be snazzy as open ended questions that quality the visitor, like "what types of promotional products are you using right now?" This allows you to determine if you can help them, that way you can not waste your time and their time speaking with someone who does not need, use, or want your products.

If you incorporate this with our booth positions tools you will give yourself the room to talk to your perspective new customers- by pushing your table back and standing in front of it you allow yourself to be in the mix of people without being on top of your fellow booth mates.

Step 2 Create Continuity

You can build a bigger order and more profit by taking to your clients about continuity, such as a series of products that are distributed over time to an specific audience. When you do this you lay the groundwork for either a larger dollar order up front or a string a follow up orders over a set period of time, it all depends on how your customer wants to purchase product. Continuity programs are effective at securing future sales. For example a desk set, where each year or each quarter your customer adds to the set, one time a clock, the next a pencil holder, the next a letter opener, and so on, you get the idea. Your clients will benefit because they are more likely to remember an advertiser when a message is sent to the repeatedly over a period of time, this makes your customers investment more profitable. It's far better to spend more money up front and get a better returns on the back end than to save pennies only for lesser results.

Increase your profit!

With many financial gurus warning of a stalled economy its time to jump start your money makes, not put on the brakes. Fuel your own sales machine with some sure money maker techniques. This will be a seven part series that outlines seven proven methods used to boost sales in a dwindling economy.
Good, Better, Best!
Use this approach when responding to your client's requests, by doing this you will move a client to an increase in budget in exchange for a greater value. Most of the time you are given a budget by your client, in actuality the budget is below the actual amount of money that the buyer has to spend. So, show something lower in price than the given budget, then show something that is right at their budget and then something greater than the stated amount. As you show each product show more value for the money with each item.

Never ignore what you think to be an obvious advantage to your clients when it comes to showing value. Buyers may not be aware of the obvious, and it's very important to stress all the value and benefits of your products or services.

Once your client sees how those few extra pennies per unit will make a difference in the longevity of an imprinted item and the greater influence it will have on the recipient, you've got a bigger sale in the bag.

Battle of the Budget

We are all dealing with it now, its on every news station, in every news paper, and on every website- the failing economy! So how do we battle that when dealing with selling promotional products and how do you deal with the economy as a business trying to get your name out there to your potential customers.

Anytime our economy goes through a phase, such as the economic "crisis" as its been called, the first thought for business owners is to pull back on their marketing budgets. Which is WRONG, why in times of plenty everyone is spending tons of money on marketing but when you need money and business people pull back from marketing, how do you think you are going to get business? That thinking is all backwards. Now, why I understand where that thought process is coming from, because marketing is looked at as not as important as paying the monthly business bills, such as the phone bill or the rent.

Right now the goal when shopping for promotional products is to try and order in bulk, you will save more money over the course of the year, if you can order 500 pieces instead of 250 you will save money, its the same concept as shopping at Costco or Sams Club. You also want to find a product that is going to give you the most, snap, crackle and pop for you buck.

So remember, in this tight time in our economy you still need to market, its more important now then ever! To get the most out of your promotional products budget look for a product that will pop and set you apart from your competition and order in bulk to save money. One great product is better then five boring products, its not quanity its quality!

Going green!

With so many companies and people going green to support our envrionment its no different when dealing with promotional products. Green, has become very big! In our latest catalog there is an entire section dedicated to green products.

This is a great time as a business to be trendy and show your customers that you are supporting the envirnment. Green is hot right now, every major company from Target to Walmart and Whole Foods are pushing GREEN, they all are offering reusable grocery bags for customers to cut down on the waste of paper and plastic bags.

The most popular products that are both useful and budget friendly are pens that are made from recycled plastic, paper pads that are made from recycled paper, reuseable tote bags that are made from recycled materials, and organic cotton wearables.

Giving your customer a green products not only shows that you care enough to pass out something that while it promotes your business it is also showing that you care about the future of our environment and our planet. It also is a great conversation starter- when you are talking to a potential new customer give them the product and them follow it up with something like, "did you know that pen is made from 100% recycled materials?" Beleive me people will talk to you, and going green is on everyone's minds.

You can also pay it forward by giving your customers a pack of seeds, or a tree root that they can plant, its a great way of saying thank you to clients. Its also something different, how many companies ever gave you seeds to plant flowers, or a tree to plant? It will stick in their minds, because you will becoming the company that cares!

So jumpstart your marketing this year, by going green!

Bend it, twist it- promotional products are flexible!

Flexibility is one of the key features and one of the greatest appeal of promotion products. They can work within all budgets, with all that is going on in our economy promotional products are a great way to still advertise within a small budget. Most companies have an advertising budget- and due to the economic times most budgets have been cut, but promotional products can sill be used even with a small budget. Its just a matter of finding the right product in your price range.

Promotional products can also be given to any audience: customers, prospects, dealers, employees, and vendors. You can also easily tie them to other marketing efforts, either as incentives for desired actions or as branding tools. And the actual product itself can be almost anything, the sky is the limit! If you can think it up, we can imprint your logo on it!

The benefits of promotion products as marketing tools are well established. Studies have proven time and time again that promotional items increase response rates, boost brand recognition, and create more favorable impressions of your company.

Are your mailers reaching your customers?

So many business send out direct mailers to their clients and their target audience, it may be a letter or a postcard, but either way look in your daily mail, I guarantee that you have some sort of advertising piece from a business. Now, what is the first thing that you do with that letter or postcard? That's right, you throw it away! Its the easiest thing to do, you sort the mail, bills and junk mail, and in an effort to avoid clutter we throw away things that we do not need laying around our homes.

Now, as a business owner how can you increase your chances to not end up in the trash can? Easy- send lumpy mail! Yes, you read that right- send something inside your mailer- a promotional product that makes your mailer look and feel different from all the other mail.

It's expensive to send out mailers- not only do you have the cost of the actual letter or postcard- but you have the cost of the postage- so you need to make it count!

Unfortunately the response rate for direct mailers is quite low, but it is a part of marketing and we all have to do it. Sending a sales letter or postcard alone gives a 1.9% response rate, but adding a promotional product to your mailer, making it "lumpy" will give you a 3.3% response rate.

So order something small and light weight, because you want to keep your costs down on postage, a letter opener, silicone wristband, or paperclip are all great examples.

So good luck, get our there and get sending some LUMPY mail!

Advertising To Get Noticed December 26, 2008

"What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form."- David Ogilvy

Advertising to get noticed December 25, 2008

"The death of advertising? I think that's in the book of Revelation. It's the day when people everywhere become satisfied with their weight, their hair, their skin, their wardrobe, and their aroma."- Jef I. Richards