A recurring feature of trade show life is figuring out how to deal with the competition that you are bound to run into. I mean there they are, the Uniblab Corp. with their $35,000 Skyline booth, a large plastic blinking blimp that’s floating majestically over the hall, and a booth staff that resembles the cast of 30 Rock. My first instinct is I want to learn as much about them as I can–some information is always better than no information. I want to see their booth promo in action, and even put in an entry for that new Mini Cooper they’re giving away. Wouldn’t that be sweet? Of course, they may already know you from appearances on panels and other industry events, so in this …

It’s Up to You We all need to be out there making more business connections in order to grow our business more.  This always sounds easier than it is to really do, but there are definitely good methods for accomplishing this goal.  The easiest and most budget friendly way to expand name recognition is to hand out promotional products. Easy Peasy Nothing on earth is more fun and simple to do than order some promotional goods and give them away to your customers and prospective customers.  Doing this always guarantees smiles from everyone which makes you smile and this makes your job more fun!  Most people don’t even realize their free gift is a marketing tool, they just think you gave them something for free …

If you attend trade shows regularly, it will no longer be surprising that the dominant point of conversation–indeed at some shows the only point of conversation–is “was this show bigger than last year’s?” If so, then it will judged as a good trade show, and if not it will be judged as a poor trade show. Attendance really is everything. There’s nothing worse for a trade show organizer than the sight of booths that don’t quite make it to the end of the aisle. But your part in it may have been a resounding success, and since you’ve honed your presentation to pick up x amount of keepers for y amount of passersby, you may be looking at other trade shows. These could be regional …

Choices You have tons of choices when it comes to your marketing plans.  You might be running commercials, you might have billboards, and of course you are doing your search engine optimization so that you stand out on the searches.  Along with all of that you need to have an organized promotional product giveaway plan. It’s Important For all your current clients having promotional merchandise to give to them as a thank you and a reminder to encourage them to use you again is a no brainer.  This is an essential part of your marketing plan!  Using this plan is also highly beneficial for the target market you are pursuing; it puts your business name right at their fingertips because you will always be giving …

Some Info When you are looking at a promotional product the very first goal to reach is that whatever item you choose is going to be a thing someone is going to use on a regular basis.  If they are reaching for it, or touching it, or looking at it all through the day then you have a winner in regards to usefulness.  This is crucial because if you give a person a thing they don’t have any use for it will get tossed or stuck in a drawer and that will not do your company any good. More Once you have determined an item is going to be highly useful then you look to see if it has space on which to print at …

With a marketing budget that’s stout enough to go on television, marketers sometimes face the choice of whether to use a celebrity endorsement as part of their advertising. At first blush, this would appear to be a no-brainer. We live, experts remind us, in a celebrity driven culture where consumers are dying for a glimpse of their favorite celebs. Really? Then why are ratings for the Oscars–a sort of All-Star Game for celebrities–at historic lows? There are a plethora of questions that need to be asked whenever contemplating using a celebrity endorser. How popular is she/he? Celebrities are given a “Q” rating which measures their potential clout as advertisers. Of course, the more popular “Q” raters are already endorsing, which means their endorsement would have …

Do You Know What’s Going On? As you continue to search for strong marketing techniques there should always be an open option for promotional products.  There are pros and cons with all of them but in general, they are all useful for promoting your company.  It’s just a good idea to customize your choices based on your clients and prospective clients Look at Quality As you narrow the choices it is always a good idea to order some samples of each one you are considering.  This will be a big help to make good decisions about which promotional items to order.  You will be giving these away to clients so you need them to be of good quality and useful, otherwise they will be ignored. …

If you’re a marketer, most likely you’re using a Website to promote and market your products. You want to have all the latest bells and whistles on your site, but you don’t want to drive people away, because let‘s face it, when it comes to the Web you already forgotten more than some people will ever know. All Websites are different, some serve different purposes than others, and the subject matter may dictate how much–or how little–”style” a Website needs. All that aside, KISS. Which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Of course, we’re not referring to anyone reading this as stupid, it’s just a colloquialism, if you will. It’s understandable that one would want as much “stuff” on the Website page as possible. After …

Although trade show attendees spend a lot time and effort focusing on preparations for the booth and activities in the hall, the fact of the matter is most savvy trade show veterans will spend as little time in the hall as possible, save for checking in to see that the booth has been put together properly and the booth staff are at their assigned stations. It’s also a good idea to do a walk around of the floor to buttonhole old acquaintances and check out the new competition in town. However, after that, many trade show attendees will consider the city their trade show. So, in addition to knowing everything about the state if the industry and what’s happening on the floor, it’s also imperative …

Ho Ho Ho For those of us who aren’t paying attention the holidays are upon us!  If you are in charge of acquiring the promotional merchandise for your company you need to step up the pace because your business has an excellent opportunity to acquire some extra attention during the holidays. This can work in a variety of ways, depending on the type of business that you are in. How, How, How? Most businesses, probably yours too, have a bunch of clients for which they are thankful.  This is then an opportune time to let them know how much you appreciate them for their patronage of your business or services during the past year. Pick a Good One When you are in a business setting …