|
INDUSTRY
EXPERTISE
|
"You
are so welcome and thanks so much for all your help.
You were a pleasure to work with and offer great products and services!
I will absolutely let you know when we have a need for the next
event."
Jean Boland, VP-Leadership Development, Focus
Brands - Moe's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Seattle's Best Coffee, Schlotzsky's
|
Each month, as part of our monthly e-newsletter, we provide advice to our clients to help them improve
their return on their promotional product expenditures. If you
would like to learn how to increase the effectiveness of what you give,
reduce costs and mistakes, and stay current on industry trends, rely on
our over decade of experience. Subscribe
now.
|
|
Can you trust your
salesperson to care enough about you, your budget and your results to
warn you when you may be making a bad decision?
Suppose you have an upcoming donor or
client dinner and you've picked out a unique piece of glassware made by
a plant in New Jersey. You're in California. The shipment of wine
glasses across country will be astronomical with some breakage
likely. Will the customer service person at that cool website
you've found online warn you and offer to provide similar glass
styles produced by plants in California?
What if you're planning an upcoming
marketing or college campus event aimed at students aged 18-22 and your
committee members aged 40+ want to give out a CD holder or
checkbook cover? Does your local salesperson care more about
an easy sale than a long term relationship and won't advise you
that teenagers listen to music on iPods not CD's and pay
bills online or with plastic - not checks?
Or, is someone in your office thinking that little multi-purpose tool
with the knife, fingernail file and bottle opener would make a
great idea for your conference attendees? They used to but
not anymore! TSA officials will take every one of them at the
airport security checkpoint.
Although the internet has made it easy to
research ideas, even the flashiest sites don't categorize items by
"good" and "bad" based on the specifics of
your individual audience or event. Relying on experienced professionals who
have managed thousands of projects over a decade will not only
save you enormous amounts of reseach time, but also protect you from
costly and potentially embarrassing mistakes.
|
|
How to Ruin Your Event with
Cheap Gifts Found on the Internet
It's 5:00 and the
banquet hall is being beautifully decorated for tonight's dinner. Two
hundred guests including your top donors or customers will arrive soon
for this annual event. But instead of being at home getting
dressed for the evening, you are still at the office desperately
trying to reach a "live" person at the internet site where you
ordered the gifts and awards for tonight's gala.
Why? Because the gifts still haven't
been delivered. Sure, there were some early warning signs of
potential trouble - exceptionally low prices that seemed too good to be
true, not getting regular updates on the status of your order and the day
or two it took to get a response to email or phone messages. But
their product looked about the same as others you had seen, they had a
really nice website, and you were saving so much money!
Unfortunately, this experience is all too common. It takes little
more than a business license, some business cards and a good web
designer to start an ad specialty business. Many people enter
this industry with no knowledge of the thousands of products
available, experience in art design/brand management, understanding
of the production processes, etc. They will tell you they can get
you anything you want by when you need it and that they'll undercut any
price you can find.
This creates a tough decision for you of
whether to entrust your next event to someone with possibly
little experience in the business, who cares more about getting your
order than getting you results, isn't available when you need to reach
them, or doesn't share your sense of urgency when it comes to your
customers or constituents.
If you would feel less stressed knowing you paid
a competitive price from a company with over a decade of experience,
with whom it is easy to communicate and on whom you can rely to get
your gifts to you on time and done right, I encourage you to give us an
opportunity and see the difference.
|
| Is Your Goal to
Give Away "Stuff" or Get Results?
I often hear promotional items referred
to negatively as "trinkets and trash" or "chatzkes". Frequently,
a budget has been set aside for giveaways and the
responsibility for selecting them delegated down without any discussion
of what they should achieve.
At large corporations, that is not the case.
In this economic environment, executives are demanding from their ad
agencies and marketing staff measurable results for every dollar
spent. If you want to see a return on your
investment, not simply expend an annual budget, what you give should be
chosen based on two criteria:
1. Will this be appreciated by - and
practical and useful to - my recipients, generating goodwill
with them?
2. Does it effectively communicate our
message, who we are and what we do as an office or organization?
If you view gifts or apparel with your logo
as unimportant meaningless "stuff", then ask
yourself, why do Coca-Cola and Nike spend billions of
dollars every year putting their logo everywhere? With your
budget being much more limited than theirs, isn't it even more
important that you get the highest return possible on the dollars you
expend?
View the branding of merchandise the way
they do - as an effective marketing tool to build
awareness and strengthen relationships with a target audience. Changing
your perception will improve your results.
|
|
Is Searching the Internet for Gift Ideas
the Best Use of Your Time or Your Staff's?
While the proliferation of websites
offering promotional products has made a wider variety of
gifts more accessible than ever, that ease of availability may have
actually increased the time consumed in the research and decision making
process. How?
With the
knowledge that a multitude of resources is just a click away, you
or your staff may get sucked into spending one or more hours
surfing site after site for the perfect idea. With most office
staffs reduced to the absolute minimum during the recession, however, is
it wise for you to be investing more than a few minutes in a task you
can so easily delegate to outside experts?
In just one short email or phone call, you can share with us the details
of your project, and then move on to the next item on your to do list.
While you're busy working on something else, we'll research what ideas
are most appropriate for your purpose, message, brand or recipients. We
assemble ten to fifteen choices into an easy to scroll PDF
presentation.
It only costs you another five minutes to review those ideas and ask for additional
information on those that appeal to you most. So with
your next project, try outsourcing to our staff so that you and yours
can get on to the more critical tasks that only you can do.
|
|
One Nice Gift Will Cost You Less
& Impress More Than Giving A Few Less Expensive Items
Clients often share with us their budget for
an upcoming program or event and request quotes on several items. While
it can be appealing to some recipients to receive a bag full of
"stuff", for most, the perceived value of the gesture is
cheapened.
Instead, we advise clients to put all of their budget into one nicer
item rather than dividing it among several small. Not only will this make
a higher quality impression on the recipient, it will allow you to have
more of your budget go towards product and less towards fees. How?
When you order three items rather than one, you pay for three
set ups, three art proofs and three shipments. When you order
one item, you can get a more expensive item or larger quantity for
the same total budget expenditure.
Unless your event lends itself to more of a "goodie bag" full
of trinkets for all participants, opt for one gift of value. Our
search engine makes it easy to plug in the quantity you need and
the price you to want to identify the nicest gift possible for your
budget.
|
Wrong Product at a Cheaper Price Will Cost You More
The proliferation of Internet sites
selling promotional products has made it easier than ever to go online
and find items on sale. Inventory closeouts, in
particular, offer a significant opportunity to save.
While a budget range is likely to guide most purchases for a
program or event, whatever can be found for the cheapest price
shouldn't. As discussed in our What's Hot,
What's Not section below, a round wooden pencil may only cost $.17
each, but will the people who receive it use it?
A vinyl or plastic keychain may
not cost very much, but what are the odds that the recipient will replace
their current nice engraved metal or LED light key ring
with yours? In either example, pennies saved caused hundreds
or thousands of dollars to be wasted.
Rely on expert advice to select the
right giveaway, not necessarily the cheapest. We can make
recommendations based on your budget range that will increase the
chances of your gift achieving your objective not adding to a landfill.
|
| Will What You
Give Away Match Your Brand and Image?
Before considering what gifts or apparel to
imprint with your logo, first look at the other media you use for
communicating your brand and image - your website, printed materials,
billboards, business cards, etc. Which main colors are used in
all? What style defines what your organization represents?
The answers to those two questions should guide your evaluation of what
products are most appropriate to use. Example: if your organization's
colors are orange, black and white, choose an umbrella with alternating
panels of at least two of those colors with the imprint in the third.
Or, if you're choosing a polo shirt for your staff, some combination of
those same colors should be all that you consider - with preference
given to the orange because of its distinctiveness.
If your image is "cutting edge", you'll want to convey that
with the style of promotional items you purchase. Example:
choose products with a silver or translucent finish rather than
those of leather or wood. The ultimate test is to spread out on a
table as many representations of your communications as possible
and ask yourself, "Do these all match in color and in style?"
If the answer is "no", you should reconsider your plans.
Request a free consultation with us and share as much of your
media as possible. After a review, we will provide you experienced
advice on ideas that will complement and reinforce your image
and brand.
|
Choose
Giveaways that Reinforce Your Core Message
When trying to determine the best gift for
your next planned program or event, look first to what message
you're communicating in other media targeted at the same group.
Whenever possible, your giveaways should tie in with and reinforce that
message.
If entering related key words into our search
page returns insufficient results, share your
details with us. We can use our database of over 3800
additional manufacturers to assist you in finding the right idea.
|
Rely On a Program or Event's Theme to Make Your Gifts More
Unique and Memorable
Although you're unlikely to see much
beyond the most commonly used items and styles featured in most ad
specialty catalogs, tens of thousands of more unique products -
including themed variations of those popular items - are also available. If
your program or event has a theme, you have an opportunity to make
your gift truly memorable.
Visit the Choose A Theme drop down menu on our search
page to see over 150 themes upon which to base your search. If
our featured products return insufficient results or you don't see your
theme listed, share
the details with us. We can use our database of over 3800
additional manufacturers to find the perfect way to celebrate and
recognize your theme.
|
Let How and Where You'll Give a Gift Guide Which You Choose
If at an event like a tradeshow or sales
meeting, you were to give out the classic and ever popular
multi-function pocket knife key chain, what do you think will be the
perception of your organization when recipients have your gift
confiscated from their pockets and purses as they pass through airline
security?
If you've given a ceramic mug to participants at a school
Homecoming or a business conference, how will they feel when they
unpack their luggage at home and find it smashed to pieces?
In both cases, not only have you wasted your money in purchasing the
gift, but you've also potentially made a negative impression by not
thinking about the possible consequences of a gift.
When planning your next project, share with us how and where you plan
to distribute your gifts. We'll use our decade of expertise to
advise you of any potential pitfalls with certain items and can
suggest alternative gifts that might better fit your giving
goals.
|
Choose Gifts
from Your Recipient's Perspective, Not Your Own
When browsing for ideas for your target
audience, it's important to exclude your own interests and personal or
geographic biases from the decision making process. Instead,
focus on what your recipients - based on their interests and
demographics - would appreciate.
For instance, although you might prefer a thin writing pen, if you
were planning gifts for older adults such as grandparents, a larger
grip instrument would be more suitable. Although you might not
like to read, their generation does - both books and newspapers.
Gifts such as a bookmark into which they can insert a
grandchild's picture or a lighted magnifying glass would likely be
deeply appreciated.
When planning your next project, share with us who you're trying to
reach. We'll use our expertise to advise you on what gifts would
be most appropriate for your target audience.
|
| When to Place Your Order - Save by Ordering Ahead
We're often asked how far ahead of an event
an order should be placed. With many plants now offering 24 hour
production, it may be possible - if you have perfect camera ready art
and don't need to see a proof - to place an order on Monday, have it
ship Tuesday and arrive on Wednesday. This service may only be available
on certain products, however, and some plants charge differently for 1,
5 or 10 day service.
So if you want the greatest selection of items, need help with your art
and would like the peace of mind that comes with seeing a proof, we
advise clients to back out one month from their event date to place the
order. When you're able to do so, this can help lower your costs and
permit any challenges that arise with an order to be handled and
resolved with time to spare.
|
|
Reduce
Shipping Costs - What
NOT to order when you're in a rush
If you have a in hands date
within three weeks, it's generally advisable not to order anything
of glass. The combined additional air freight costs for the weight
and double packing could actually exceed the costs of your
order. Other non-breakable items to beware of in a rush may
include magnets, sticky notes, sportsbottles and frisbees.
Their combined weight or limited quantity per box can make express
shipping very expensive. We are always happy to provide a shipping
estimate with your quote so you have a good idea of total costs.
|
Save Additional Art Costs by Providing Vector
Art
Vector-based art is created in a graphic
design program such as Adobe Illustrator. It permits the size of your
imprint to be adjusted up or down - without loss of proportions or image
quality - to fit the imprint area of the item you have ordered.
|
|
Subscribe
to Our Newsletter
Get helpful advice, gift ideas you
won't see in every catalog, and special offers!
|
|
