Monthly Archives: December 2012

• Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

  It’s So Old, It’s New

  One of the best songs ever written about marketing–and really how many are there?–is “Step Right Up,” by the gravelly voiced singer Tom Waits. In about five minutes, Waits hits every sales cliche known to mankind, including the need for change, “Change your shorts, change your life, change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy, get rid of your wife….” But it’s a truism that a reliable way to get consumers interested in your product is to claim it’s new. If it’s new, there’s nothing wrong with it (so far). In our fast-paced age, there are the instances of the new pharmaceutical product that cures the common headache, and then a few months later, there are the lawsuit commercials asking, “Did you take Vioxx?” But, by and …

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• Saturday, December 15th, 2012

  8 Great Tips for Trade Show Attendees

  Attending a trade show doesn’t automatically mean you’ll need to be an exhibitor. It may be that it’s a new show, and you or your company want to check it out to see if it’s worthy of your participation. Or, it may be a show outside your normal area, but you have clients in this industry and this is a good place to catch up with them and find out why they’re at this show. Here are a few tips to make your trip a success. You might want to schedule a “fly by,” where you fly into town in the morning, do the show, and fly out at the end of the day. Obviously, since you’re only going to be on the ground for …

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• Saturday, December 15th, 2012

  One Fit Caps Suit Everybody

  Search for the Best How do you know the best way to make your business stand out above the crowd?  Using promotional merchandise as giveaways is a simple and very popular marketing technique implemented by most companies.  All you have to do is pick an item, customize it to your clients, and then give it away free to your customers and prospective customers. This is sure to have a huge influence on your clients. Get Started To begin you need to choose a few items which you feel will be a hit with your target audience.  To be sure one of these will be the promotional one fit cap, everyone wants one of these so there is no way can you go wrong with this …

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• Friday, December 14th, 2012

  California Pens Will Make You Happy

  Nothing Too Small The world is full of promotional products but some of them are really a waste of time and money.  They are either too tiny or they have no use and if a giveaway is not useful to someone then it will not be useful to your company for marketing. When it’s Free All people love to get gifts and goodies, and most people view promotional products as gifts; they don’t even realize that it is a marketing plan.  One of the classiest and comfortable promotional products is the California pen. These pens are the easiest, simplest product to giveaway for promotion of your business name and services. Every person on earth can use another pen; we all have a little place in …

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• Friday, December 14th, 2012

  10 Tips for Marketing Freelancers

  Freelancing is like a playground see-saw. It has its ups and downs and requires a measure of balance to succeed. If you are a freelancer, friends will envy your independence and freedom, but they won’t realize that they come at a cost. Here are some observations for new-bies or concepts for those who’ve had a taste of the freelance life. Find your market and work it best as possible. Think of the market as a series of concentric rings. Let’s say your expertise is marketing autos–that’s the bullseye or “target market.” Even if you’ve found ample work in the target market, you’ll need to stretch yourself outside your comfort zone to develop a more diversified portfolio. Even though your clients like your work, you are …

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• Thursday, December 13th, 2012

  5 Game Changing Consumer Shifts

  Are consumers changing? Are they less materialistic and what does that mean for marketers? These are among the ideas explored by futurist Andy Hines in his recent book “Consumer Shift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape.” Hines challenges many traditional marketing assumptions about consumers “wanting it all” and “more is always better.” Hines says what consumers value is changing. “Understanding these changes will provide critical insight for understanding the future consumer landscape and designing products, services, and offerings that fit.,’” he explained. “The book translates the values changes into seven emerging need states, brought to life in the form of seven future personas, and provides a persona customization kits for those who want to tailor them to their specific needs. It will help …

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• Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

  4 Ways to Join the In Crowd with Lanyards

  Marketers looking for the next big thing in promotional Item might want to consider the humble lanyard. Journalists, event attenders, and trade show presenters are among the core lanyard-wearing population. Veteran attendees have been known to collect their lanyards, and turn them into a mosaic. Sporting a lanyard makes one a member of the “in crowd,” however briefly, so marketers would be advised to wonder what else the can do with not-so-humble lanyard. Give the lanyard value. The lanyard should be viewed as an advertising opportunity. If the lanyard is for a resort, perhaps having a restaurant offer a free appetizer when presenting the lanyard will give it value past the event. Make the lanyard unique. Alternatively, the lanyard could be stamped with one of …

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• Saturday, December 8th, 2012

  Try On Some Quality Promotional T-Shirts

  Take a Look When your marketing department gathers to evaluate where your marketing money is going to go you know you will have to keep the promotional products portion in the budget.  Handing out free merchandise can be beneficial.  So definitely order more of the promotional pens but it’s good to consider items which cost a bit more because it can make a bigger bang for the buck. Add Some Smiles Some of your customers and possibly a few of your employees may need something a bit more impressive than the usual promotional item.  You may need a good prize for an internal incentive program.  Either way you are going to make a hit if you bump it up a bit. These Are Good! A …

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• Friday, December 7th, 2012

  Snuggle Up With A Fleece Blanket

  Try a New Thing Using promotional products giveaways as part of your marketing plan will never let you down.  Even the smallest of businesses can use them as they are very popular and an efficient use of your limited marketing budget.  They are especially useful in a rocky economy when no one wants to lay out a lot of money on marketing but still need to build brand recognition. An Ideal Product A super popular product which has just been upgraded and has always been a customer favorite anyway is the promotional fleece blanket.  A warm and fuzzy favorite, this product is super durable and easy to take care of.  Take it on some outings: Take it to the park for jazz concerts Perfect for …

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• Thursday, December 6th, 2012

  What’s Your “Holy *^%$$” Plan?

  In the best of all worlds, marketers are representing wonderful products to a receptive audience that will award their diligence with positive stories across a variety of communications platforms (print, digital, TV, social media). Were it only that simple. A major problem for marketers is when all their hard work goes up in smoke due to something beyond their control. What can go wrong? Virtually everything. The product isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That’s not hard to overcome, improve the product. The audience is indifferent. We’ll just have to work harder, and be more creative, so someone will pay attention to us. Integrity Scare The sure-fire, french-fried horror story, however, is when the company has done something wrong that beings into question its …

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