Posts Tagged promotional products
Customized Playing Cards pack a Big Promo Punch…
Posted by Gallant in Promotional Ideas on May 26, 2009
A visit to custom-card maker Apollo reveals that simple, classic playing cards pack a big promotional punch.
You know the annoying gag where someone asks, “Hey, you want to play 52?” and once the unsuspecting victim agrees he or she must collect 52 cards from where they landed, scattered on the floor? This is likely the only downside to owning a deck of playing cards, and it only happens (hopefully) once in a lifetime. Playing cards have been popular since the 9th century—used for playing games, establishing social rank, seeing the future and advertising brand messages, among other things—and show little sign of losing their appeal.
Fort Worth, Texas-based supplier Apollo Playing Card Co. Inc. (UPIC: APOLLO) harnesses cards’ popularity by making promotional playing cards for a variety of industries. “They’re like 52-page books without spines; you can put a lot of information on these little things,” says Brian Misiuda, vice president of the 23-year-old company founded by his father, Emil. “Every card can have a different picture or explain something.” But instead of handing me an ace of hearts for more information, Misiuda offered me a factory tour and a first-hand explanation of how cards are made.
The process begins by laser etching a metal plate of the logo or design for the cards’ backs. This is done in a dimly lit room because bright light will ruin the plate. Then the plate is transferred to a printing press and used to lithograph sheets of cards. One sheet, approximately two square feet in size, fits one deck of poker-sized cards. (Bridge-sized cards are slimmer by one quarter of an inch, presumably because bridge players hold more cards in their hands at one time.) Misiuda says 95 percent of the cards he makes are poker sized.
Apollo uses casino-quality playing card paper imported from Germany for all of its cards. Playing card paper is unique because it has a layer of carbon sandwiched between two pieces of paper to prevent prying eyes from seeing your royal flush before you want them to.
After they’re printed, the cards are varnished with liquid plastic to add durability and sheen. Once dry, the cards are fed into a “slitter,” where they’re cut apart and mechanically collated into decks. Misiuda says the ability to sort the cards with machines instead of by hand is unique to Apollo and saves a tremendous amount of time—it’s time-saving techniques like this that make it possible for Apollo to produce up to 10,000 decks per day.
Up to this point the cards have had squared-off edges, but then each deck is die-cut to produce a classic rounded edge. From here each deck is boxed, wrapped in cellophane or both according to the order and prepped for shipping. “People mix it up a little bit,” says Misiuda of the variety of packaging options.
Creating Company Uniqueness
Posted by Dan in Promotional Ideas on May 15, 2009
“Say cheese,” says the person behind the camera. And you say cheese. Your facial muscles are frozen. You have a dumb, goofy look. And under your breath you’re muttering, “C’mon, take the picture, take the picture, c’monnnn!”
Click! You blink. The picture has been taken. And then the photographer runs to you, all excited to show the nice digital photo. You take a look, roll your eyes and cringe because you detest the photo. It looks artificial and posed. It’s not you. It looks like all those cheesy pictures you’ve seen before. It’s not unique.
How can it be unique? You weren’t yourself! And that’s the whole problem with uniqueness. You’ve tried too hard. In your business you’ve tried your darndest to get your own uniqueness. And you’ve failed miserably—because you froze. And the uniqueness you sought to find looked like a cheesy picture.
WHAT MAKES A BUSINESS UNIQUE?
When asked about your uniqueness, do you mumble something about “service or quality,” which mean nothing to most people?
The funny thing is, Sarah had the same problem. You see, Sarah teaches a yoga class. And a yoga class is a yoga class, right? Sarah twisted her brain like a pretzel, but she just couldn’t come up with a form of uniqueness.
So she did what all the experts recommended. She asked her clients. And some of them shrugged. Others gave her mixed answers. But this left Sarah more confused than ever.
Then she did what most businesses do. She gave up and figured her business would remain a commodity. The heck with uniqueness, she thought, because trying to find what was unique was too hard.
You see, Sarah was asking the wrong question. She was trying to look inward. The question isn’t, “What’s unique about my business?” Rather the question is, “What do I want to do in my business that’s different from everyone else?”
I asked Sarah what she’d want to achieve for her students most of all. Her response was lightning quick, and I backed up two steps at the speed and ferocity of the answer, “Injury,” she said. “You can really hurt yourself in a yoga class if you’re doing the wrong thing. I want every student to have injury-free yoga.”
Can you see it? Sarah couldn’t see it. Her uniqueness was “Injury-Free Yoga,” plain and simple.
So ask yourself, “What do I want to do in my business that’s different from everyone else?” What’s your dream for your customers?
Ask Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza.
Today you take quick pizza delivery for granted. But if you zapped your way back to the swinging, hey-groovy ’70s, you’d grow old just waiting for a pizza. You’d call a pizza place and ask, “Can you deliver?” And about 79 hours later, you’d be still tapping your fingers waiting for the pizza guy to arrive.
Tom Monaghan did what Sarah did. He couldn’t find anything unique about his business, so he invented his uniqueness. He figured out how to get a pizza to his customers in 30 minutes or less. And then he came up with Domino’s’ now historic slogan: “Domino’s Pizza. In 30 Minutes Or It’s Free!” Yup, the pizza man invented his uniqueness.
You can’t find uniqueness—it must be invented and here’s how you do it. You look at your business as if you were a monarch surveying his kingdom. And then you make a big, warm wish for your royal subjects by asking yourself, “If I could, what would I do differently? Then do it. And once you’ve gotten the swing of things, announce your uniqueness to the world.
Ah, but hang on there a second—once you’ve decided what you want to do better than anyone else, survey the neighborhood. Does any other competitor do the same? And do your competitors stress their uniqueness?
If the answer to these questions is no, then go right ahead and proclaim this uniqueness to your customers. However, it doesn’t matter if your competitor does the same thing. If you’re the first to announce it, you own it.
If you don’t believe me, ask Cindy Russell. Cindy Russell runs 9 Seconds.com, a search engine optimization firm in Tampa, Florida. So what’s so different about a search engine optimization company? Cindy invented her uniqueness.
Cindy’s proposition is simple. If you’re a real estate agent in Milwaukee, she won’t work with another real estate agent in Milwaukee. She’ll work with a real estate agent in New York. But she won’t have two real estate agents scrapping it out for top search engine rankings in one geographical area.
This makes Cindy different. Her customers know their privileged information stays privileged with Cindy. They realize the advantage of working with someone who has the integrity to pass up instant income for client secrecy. And they’re willing to pay more to get Cindy’s enhanced service. Cindy’s onto a good thing with her self-created uniqueness.
But, having a point of uniqueness isn’t enough. Once you get your uniqueness going, you must blah, blah, blah it to the rest of the world. Keeping it hidden on page six in paragraph 73 isn’t going to help you one little bit.
Most businesses know their uniqueness. They’ll even tell you their point of difference in a conversation. Yet, you won’t find it on the front page of their website. It’s swept under the carpet in their brochures and newsletters. When they stand up to speak, they forget to make it an important part of the spiel.
At the bottom of our newsletter, you’ll find “A real newsletter—not a disguised ad.” That’s what we decided to achieve. It’s our own invention.
Get your uniqueness where it can be seen on a consistent basis. Not hidden under a bushel.
IN CONCLUSION
You, too, can create your own uniqueness. If you have been frozen so far, un-freeze that cheesy slogan. Be who you want to be. You’re different. You know it. Now let the world know about your point of difference, too. Invent it!
Benefit Big Time by Using Promotional Items
Posted by Gallant in Business Tips on April 10, 2009
There are several marketing strategies that incorporate the use of promotional gifts and items. It is due to the fact that more people are easily attracted to custom made items especially if these are offered as free. Several types of promotional products are designed according to the merchandise it supports. In selecting which products are to be used, you should take into consideration the relation of the item to the service or product you are selling. You may want to base your choices depending upon its usability and effectiveness in promoting your product.
As for choosing the right type of promotional items, it does not necessarily have to be something that is closely related to your advertised services or products. For example, if you are in the sector of beauty and health solutions, you may consider giving out some alternative promotional products such as bags, manicure sets and scented candles. These items would still help in your marketing procedures even if it is not related to products you distribute.
The main purpose of giving out promotional products is to get your company or brand name to be recognized by more people. In order to do this, you may have to consider the customer’s interests before choosing on which of the available types of promotional items that you would use. If you want to consider increasing the effectiveness of your marketing strategy, you may also want to consider not just the preferences of the customers but their associates’ as well. By doing this, you are letting your satisfied customers do the advertising for you. The influence that your promotional products make would eventually take effect when it comes to gaining popularity.
There are several techniques on how to use promotional products on your marketing venture. The best place to start marketing your merchandise is setting up a stall on upcoming mass events such as business seminars, trade shows, conferences or exhibitions. You may hand out your promotional items to people that are passing by your trade stand or stall. By doing this, you are not just getting your company or product known to new customers but also enable your name to be openly broadcasted to the public.
Given the fact that the success of your promotional activity depends upon the spreading of your promotional products, you may want to consider choosing between items which are durable or often used by your target customers. These products are proven to be effective when it comes to promoting a certain service or merchandise. You may want to consider this in your decisions in selecting which items are to be handed out to potential customers and clients.
Since the success of your promotional product depends upon its ability to reach the most number of people, you may want to utilize items which would be seen by people for a long time. Promotional products which are durable and practically used by people would give best results in helping you boost your marketing success.
Get Noticed with Tradeshow Promotions
Posted by Gallant in Promotional Ideas on June 28, 2007
Trade show giveaways, or promotional products, are an excellent tool that can be used to help visitors and attendees remember your company after the trade show is finished. Proper use of promotional giveaways can increase lead generation at the show as well as boost the number of relevant phone calls you receive after the show. Unfortunately, many companies misuse promotional products at trade shows, and these companies end up looking unprofessional. You do not want your company to be remembered as the group who was more focused on their stress ball than on their products and services. In order to have a successful experience at your next trade show, you need to carefully plan to distribute meaningful, memorable trade show giveaways that will increase the return on your investment.
Your giveaway items should not only fit in with your overall trade show marketing scheme, but they should be memorable and well-branded. You need to select trade show giveaways that are unique, useful, and appropriate. Ideally, your company would give away products very similar to the ones that you sell, but for companies who sell more costly items, the giveaway should at least relate to what you sell in some way. For example, if your company sells speaker systems, giving away gift cards that can be used to download music would be both relevant to your product and memorable. Make sure your company name, logo, and contact information are clearly visible on the promotional giveaways you distribute.
You should also establish a way to effectively track the success or failure of your promotional items. Many companies use giveaways to direct clients to a specific e-mail address, so that you can measure the response to your giveaways by the number of e-mails you receive. Have all your e-mails directed to promotions@yourcompany.com, and you will have no trouble assessing the relative success of your trade show giveaways. In addition to tracking e-mails that result from your trade show giveaway, you need to be able to effectively measure how many visitors were attracted to your booth by the lure of your promotions. This can be a tricky procedure, because many of the visitors that are attracted to your promotions are not the type of visitors you are interested in. The person who is attending the trade show merely to collect free promotional giveaways is not the person who is likely to be interested in your products and services.
If your trade show giveaway is really effective, you will notice an increase in foot traffic to your trade show booth. If you plan to give away big screen televisions for free at your next trade show, be prepared to be flooded with visitors. Realistically your gift will not be as attractive as a big screen television, but you can clearly see that better giveaways result in more visitors to your trade show booth. Your trade show giveaways should be attractive enough to lure visitors to your display, but inexpensive enough that you can distribute them at will without fear of bankrupting your company.
After you have decided what type of promotional product you will distribute at your next trade show, you need to devise a plan to attract attention to that product before the show even begins. Sending targeted mailers before the show begins is an effective way to ensure that visitors to the convention are aware of your promotions. If no one knows that you are giving away an interesting promotional item, you may wind up spending a lot of money on giveaways with very little return on your investment.
Trade show giveaways can be an extremely effective way to draw more attention to your trade show booth. Careful planning and decision making can result in a drastic increase in the return on your investment at your next trade show.