Where to Find You

I met with a new customer the other day – a wonderful and successful company. At one point in the conversation we were reviewing how they had spent their money on promotional items in the past. They had not included their web address or phone number on their promotional items and had only used the company logo. Yikes!

Now if you are a company that is selling direct to customers and your items are easy to find at a local store, leaving off direct contact information on promotional items is not the end of the world. But, I would suggest finding room for your web address where customers could access a coupon. Or better yet, give the customer the opportunity to purchase on-line.

On the other hand, if you are promoting a company that survives on business to business sales, not including contact information on your give-aways is a huge waste of money and time. Especially if this is an item that is given out at a tradeshow! It’s so easy to get and stay in touch with customers and prospects these days: e-mail, phone, fax, linked-in, facebook, twitter. Make life a little easier for yourself and your customers and let them know how and where they can find you!

The MOMENTS

There are “moments” in everyday and everything that we do. These are the times where we suddenly become present with ourselves. You take a step back and enjoy the giggle, or the smell of fresh flowers in the garden or feel the warmth of the sun after a long winter. You remember what you were doing and who you were with. These little moments that we allow ourselves to enjoy create the framework for a lifetime of happy memories.

In business, we can help ignite these moments and add joy to our customer’s lives. Be genuine and generous and have FUN in your interactions with your customers. Let them know that you are thinking about them and you care about them, even the little guys. It doesn’t require a huge promotion or grand ideas, but rather a small gesture of welcome or thank you. They will likely remember the effort and you.

Please know, a magical thing happens when you ignite moments for others, you will feel more passion and joy in your own business and life. And, the amazing moments come so much easier.

The Secret to Promotions

I have a secret for you. In the world of promotional products, if you are putting all your marketing hopes in dreaming up the next latest and greatest item to rev up business, you're missing the big picture. While I can’t dismiss the success of the bobblehead or silicon bracelet crazes, those opportunities are few and far between. So what creative items can we be marketing with in the meantime, (are you sitting down this is about to knock your socks off) I’d suggest a hat, t-shirt, hat pin, glassware, pretty much all the basics. We don’t have to re-create the wheel with the items that we market with, but we do need to be able to see the value we get out of those items.

Everybody loves a free t-shirt, so you decide to invest in a great shirt for a give-away promotion. You get a lot of great advertising every time those shirts are worn. So, how do you keep that shirt out of the drawer that keeps all the old 'wash the car or paint the house' raggedy shirts? Try offering a discount every time a person wears that shirt into your business. Or create a punch card system, if they wear that shirt to shop/eat, they get a hole punched. After they have collected 3, 5, 7 (you get the picture) holes, they get a free item. This is a great way to track some of the return on your shirt investment.

One other thought on the shirts, do you really just have to give it away? The shirts can be used to create or add to a rich data base of potential new customers. Why not create a short survey, please share your thoughts and we’ll give a free item for your trouble.

The secret is seeing that there is value in every promotional item. You just have to understand your own marketing goal and make that item work for you.