360 Promotions – let's brand together

The other day I received an email, from a client, that simply read “Do you ever sleep?”  Yes, I do! But, I also work flexible hours and my Productive-O-Meter tells me that I get more done at night. It’s no secret that my ideal business hours would be from noon to 10 pm. Unfortunately I understand that the rest of the world has not come around to my way of thinking…yet!

In addition to business hours that cater to me being a night owl, in my perfect world, companies would plan events, promotions and marketing campaigns at least one year in advance, budgets would not be an issue and yes…holiday gifts and calendars would be ordered in July *gasp*!

Well, now that we have that out of the way, I also understand that marketing is fluid. What’s hot this quarter might not be in the next, events change, budgets get revised and campaigns that made perfect sense at inception need to be constantly evaluated for overall success.

What does all this have to do with returning emails at 2am? Our business is not about selling products. It’s about building mutually beneficial relationships and understanding that as your needs change we will be there to support you… even at 2am!

Consider this….do you want to qualify what you give away?  I briefly talked about a Tier Program in Part One but there are several ways to go about it so I decided to expand on the idea – Here’s what I’ve got for a start

·        Do you want to use your Promo Items as a Thank-You?  The qualifier here is that the recipient has done business with you –

·        Do you want to use them as a reward for people coming to see you or requesting information about your product or service?

·        Do you want to use your item as a way to reward your customers/potential customers for participating in some way?  Maybe in a demonstration, testing or a contest scenario?

·        Do you want to use it as an incentive for sales?  You can do this by including an “offer” or “coupon” with a redemption qualifier?

All of these are a great way to use your Promotional Products to “Qualify” your customers!

By now you might be thinking….Wow – Promotional Products require a lot of thought????  Actually, that is what we are here for – we can break it down with just a few questions…..One of the many great things about us Promo Gals!

No more suspense – here are the 4^th and 5^th things to consider for your advertising –

·        Budget – What kind of quality are you looking for?  How many do you need? Do you need a custom product?  Can you do more of several items to tie in throughout the year?  The greater the quantity…the lower the per piece price!

·        Message – Many times we can tie your message to an item that is a perfect compliment!  Share the message with us and we’ll barrage you with ideas!

All of this (with a few more to come) is our way of helping you to effectively incorporate Promotional Items into your Marketing and Advertising – it really is the number one way for people to keep on remembering you and your company…and keep on….and keep on….!

The Single Most Important part in the life of a promotional product is….(drum roll)…..Finding the right one!  There are literally hundreds of thousands of promotional products so this can seem like an overwhelming undertaking.  We have a search function on our website ( www.360promos.com ) that I have a love-hate relationship with – I love that it is available for people that love to shop and browse on the web…or want to order koozies at two in the morning!  But I also hate that it can seem like SO much….I mean, how will you ever choose from all of the cool ideas?

 Here are some “Rule of Thumb” guidelines for narrowing it down –

·        Again with the objective business…What is your objective?

·        Do you need to tie your item to a theme?

·        Are you trying to convey a specific message?

·        Are you trying to educate your target audience?

·        Do you have a purpose?  If not, let’s get one!

Remember….this is your company’s brand and image and we want to help you make it the absolute best that it can be!  Theme of the week – USE your Promotional Products Specialist!

……..Part 3…….Tomorrow!

My soapbox has been eyeing me from under my desk for a few weeks…so I thought before the looks turn evil, I would take it out and step up for a bit.  So, my soapbox rotation for the week is “USE YOUR PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS COMPANY”!!!  (the soapbox is thrilled to be out for a whole series!)  We are here to help, we want to help – please use us for more than someone that fills your orders (although we are great at that too!).

How can we help you “Get Some Groove to Your Giveaways”?

• Help You to Define Your Audience – A focused objective is crucial to your success and we can help you break that down.  Are these giveaways for key customers, prospects, employees or everyone that passes by?  Do you need something for all of the above?  We can help you to establish a Tier program for giveaways that meets your budget and creates the desired impact.
• Goal Setting – All promotional item purchases should be made with this in mind…”What do you want to achieve?”  Are you trying to launch a new product or idea,  are you trying to incite action or are you trying to increase your recognition with a particular audience?  We can help you make an impact with your message and with your promotional product by bringing the two together.

Look for my next posts for more ideas to help you get your……

On April 18th the Lone Star Ladies presented *Shop Austin* and our client, IMT Residential was a sponsor. Check out some of the fun photos from the event!

Toni Guggenbickler from IMT Wells Branch said “Not only was the event fun but it was also a big success! At one point during the day everybody was carrying our bags- I was so excited! Thanks you so much for all of your help!”

If you have an event coming up and you need ideas search here or email us at PromoteYourself@360promos.com and we will be happy to help you!

Welcome to our new blog- Let’s Brand Together! Over the last few months we have been working on getting up-to-date on all things social media. You can now find us on facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and the new blog. You probably also noticed that the website has recently undergone a face lift- I am super excited about the new site and hope you will enjoy it, too!

So, what is this blog going to be about? Let’s see…our adventures with promotional products (& believe me, we have some funny stories to share), tips and tricks on how to improve your marketing, cool products that you have to know about and i’m sure you’re going to find a special or two posted from time to time !

We hope you’ll stop by often to see what’s new and we have also added a subscribe feature so all you have to do is enter your email address and it will automatically email you once daily with updates.

We love feedback and want to hear from you so be sure to post a comment below! Also, feel free to ask questions via the comments and we promise to answer everybody.