Promotional Products – Seeking the Lowest Price Can Be Very Costly

Author:

AmyNutt

 Do you scour the internet for ads looking for the’ guaranteed best price’. Then, do you go out and get multiple quotes from numerous suppliers and take time to compare them so that you get the ‘best price’. Finally, after all that work you probably feel great having squeezed that last penny out of the market through this intense effort to save your company money. What an accomplishment and achievement in cost savings. Or is it? Actually if you are one of these buyers in essence or merely a hybrid of the type, you will be shocked to realize that you probably did not get the best deal for your company. Price is only part of the story in getting the best deal when buying promotional products or promotional gifts. There is something more important than just price if you really want the best deal when buying promotional products. It is called value. But value and price are same thing right? No, price is only one part of the equation that makes up value. That is why no matter whether you think you got the best price, if that was your sole and overwhelming goal, you probably did not get the best value and thus you did not get the best deal for your company.

To get a better understanding of this important distinction let’s explore these two terms: value and price as they apply to purchasing promotional products. We will start off with my explanation that price is only one component of value. What are some of the other possible components when seeking out the best value that might make your ‘guaranteed best price’ adventure not seem like such a good deal for your company after all. There can be numerous things that comprise a great value in buying promotional products. But here are three important basics that should be the part of any value consideration: service, creativity, trust and product quality. Remember all that work that you did looking through catalogs, both paper and electronic, to find the best product at the lowest price. It was a waste of yours and the company\’s time and money. Sure you can do some looking and browsing doing some brainstorming for some semblance of ideas for a promotion but anymore than that is a waste. A really experienced marketing professional promotional product supplier, not a customer service or account manager from some online website with their ‘guaranteed lowest price offer’ peddling the cheapest pen or plastic product, can provide you with the creative product ideas from quality manufacturers that you seek for your promotion. Moreover the good companies will not even charge you for this valuable service. Now keep in mind I am talking about professionals who will ask you important questions about your company’s promotion such as: what are your goals for the promotion? Who is your target audience for the promotion? How will the promotional products be distributed and on and on? If they just ask you questions about quantity and price per product they aren’t marketing experts like so many online web company’s with their ‘guaranteed best price’ claim to be. More likely they are just customer service representatives peddling the latest chachka with no real understanding of your promotion or marketing needs necessary to make it a success.

A good creative promotional product supplier has the search technology to enable him or her to utilize their marketing experience and knowledge, along with the information you provide them from their questions about your promotion, to quickly identify the optimum product or products to achieve your promotional goals. Moreover, they will seek to find that product that will get you the best return on your marketing investment. You need only refer to a previous article I wrote: ‘Super Promotional Products-The Multiplier Effect’ to realize that all promotional products are not created equal. In that article, I use the example of a client who insists on giving out some inexpensive items like pens at a trade show which are one dimensional promotional products in nature in that they generally only influence the recipient of the promotional giveaways. However, I went on to point out in the article that if the company had chosen to give out say a custom imprinted tote bag with their company logo and booth number imprinted on it that it would be seen by many attendees of the trade show and thus drive traffic to the company’s booth. This kind of choice in promotional products produces a far greater return on investment than the other one dimensional type of products like say a pen. This is an example where a knowledgeable promotional product professional can really drive the value of a promotional product choice. Get in touch with a good promotional product marketing consultant and he/she will show the way to finding true value which is always better than the ‘ guaranteed best price’.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/promotional-products-seeking-the-lowest-price-can-be-very-costly-3952060.html

About the Author

With our handy-dandy Google calendar you can keep track of all of the important (and not so important) annual holidays and events. Any one of these can give you a great opportunity to promote your business or keep up morale with a lunch-time party for the whole office. Looks like Employee Appreciation Day is right around the corner!

Adam Ruiz with A R Home Loans Direct, Inc

A R Home Loans Direct, Inc. is a Mortgage Broker company servicing customers throughout California.  We work with customers of any and all credit histories, and strive to assist our customers in reaching their financial goals.

With over 20 years experience in the Real Estate lending business, we believe that our knowledge, along with our superior customer service will allow us to become a benchmark in the real estate community.

Every person is unique, and so is his or her present and future financial situation.  At A R Home Loans Direct, Inc., we look at each application with that understanding.  With hundreds of loan programs to choose from, our Loan Consultants research, match and customize your loan with your goals in mind.

Many homeowners think of their mortgage as a liability and a bill that has to be paid each month.  We try to teach our customers that their mortgage should be looked at as an asset that can open many doors that might have otherwise been considered closed.  Whether it be to start or further your retirement planning, college fund, or that home improvement you’ve always dreamed of, your mortgage can be the key to open those doors.

We offer free consultations and reviews of your mortgages and/or credit report.  We believe in educating our customers on all of their options and don’t ask anyone to sign anything that they do not fully understand or feel comfortable with.  Our goal is for our customers to get the loan that best fits their individual needs for today and for the future.

Our website, www.arhomeloansdirect.com, has many tools to assist you including mortgage news, current rates, and a mortgage calculator.  You can also reach us directly at (951) 587-8542, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed on important real estate updates.

We greatly appreciate your business, and look forward to serving you, your family, and your friends in the future!

Promote your Business Brand with Custom Polo Shirts

Author:

Travis Fountain

In todays very competitive business environment it is important to make your business stand out, not only your brand but your employees and customers.  One way to create a powerful marketing tool to help achieve this is through custom polo shirts embroidered with your company logo.

Promotional polo shirts can be used in-house to help promote your brand through exposure with prospective clients, customers and public and can also be used as promotional giveaways to help get your business brand and name out there.  Think about the benefits of giving out a polo shirt to a customer, when it is worn everyone that they come into contact with will be exposed to your business brand.  This is an extremely powerful way to advertise and promote your business.

Corporate apparel polo shirts can be embroidered with your logo, company details, website and slogans in a variety of thread colors to match your corporate image.  Promotional polo Shirts come in a variety of colors, sizes and mens and ladies styles.  Polo Shirts can be cotton, polyester, cool dry, pique knit or a mixture of both.  The different styles are endless and will often tone nicely in with promotional hats and accessories.

Employees will wear their uniform with pride if embroidered with the company logo.  Often custom polo shirts can also be embroidered with individual employee names as well to help customers identify customer service representatives.  People like to deal with businesses they know and trust which makes branded uniforms and polo shirts extremely important for industries with direct contact with customers.

The great thing about polo shirts is that they are affordable, so if your business is working to a marketing budget, custom polo shirts will give you bang for your buck.

Have a look at the different styles of promotional polo shirts online, upload your artwork and enjoy fast delivery on polo shirts.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-ideas-articles/promote-your-business-brand-with-custom-polo-shirts-4048689.html

About the Author

Study Shows: Imprinted Promotional Products
Yield Lowest Cost Per Impression of Any
Advertising Medium

Author:

Robert Piller

The results are in… and the June/July 2008 survey of 618 businesspeople on behalf of the Advertising Specialty Institute prove that imprinted promotional products return the best return on investment of any advertising medium.

A summary of the conclusions of the report are:

• Instant recall: More than 8 out of 10 (84 respondents remembered the advertisers of the promotional products they’re received.

• Very impressionable: 42of respondents had a MORE favorable impression of an advertiser after receiving the item. And nearly a quarter (24 said they are MORE likely to do business with the advertiser on the items they receive.

• It’s all business: Most respondents (62 have done business with the advertiser on a promotional product after receiving the item.

• User-friendly: The majority (81 of promotional products were kept because they were considered useful.

• Staying power: More than three-quarters of respondents have had their items for more than 6 months.

• Bag it!: Among wearables, imprinted bags were reported to be used most frequently with respondents indicating that they used their bags an average of 9 times per month. They also deliver the most impressions: Each bag averages 1,038 impressions per month.

• Most impressive: The average CPI of an advertising specialty item is $0.004; as a result, marketers get a more favorable return on investment from advertising specialties than nearly any other popular advertising media.

With budgets tight this year, doesn\’t it make sense to utilize a proven medium to keep your name and message in front of your clients and prospects?

Imprinted advertising specialties, from tote bags, pens, shirts, caps, USB\’s, mugs and other imprinted gifts can help you to increase and maintain business during this tough economy. While some of your competitors are cutting their promotional budgets or spending their money on more expensive forms of advertising, your company can gain top-of-mind market penetration for pennies per impression through proven promotional products—delivered in a way to maximize its impact.

Promotional specialties can be used as a gift with purchase, as part of a customer loyalty or incentive program, as a thank you gift or as part of a trade show campaign.

Choosing the right imprinted gift, and the proper distribution of it, can help you maximize sales and gain more referral business this year – at a fraction of the cost of other forms of advertising.

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Note: The survey was a series of interviews conducted in June/July 2008 in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia regarding promotional products they had received. The purpose of the interviews was to understand how advertising specialties influence end-users’ purchasing decisions; determine the number of impressions of popular advertising specialties; and analyze the Cost Per Impression (CPI) of advertising specialties compared with other popular advertising media. Further, during October 2008, an online panel survey was conducted among recipients of advertising specialties to augment the non-wearables sample from the in-person interviews. Results have been combined in the report where appropriate. There were 213 completed Web based interviews, for a total of 618 completed surveys for this study. Respondents were asked if they had received any promotional products in the last 12 months. Most respondents were business/professional people (84 and all were age 21 or older.  2008. Data provided by Advertising Specialty Institute. All Rights Reserved.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/branding-articles/study-shows-imprinted-promotional-products-yield-lowest-cost-per-impression-of-any-advertising-medium-712895.html

About the Author

Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for anyone interested in going green. The site\’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

I heard a story the other day about a retail location that decided to offer 50% off of everything. Sounds like a great deal, right? Well the night before, all of the employees were required to work into the night marking up all of the prices to twice the actual price. During the sale, everyone believed they were getting a great deal, when they were actually paying full price.
Surprisingly, I have heard and seen this story take place more than this one time. How do these business owners plan on keeping customer into the future? Maybe they didn’t consider the possibility that their clients would eventually find out. Once the customers found out about the “deal” they lost respect for the business and the owners, and opted to shop elsewhere. Once you lose the trust of your clients, it takes a very long time to get them to trust you again, if you are able to get them back at all

Times have been tough over the last few years, and many of you have been through ups and downs. I wanted to try a forum to get everyone involved. Please let us know here of a tip or two that you have personally used to build strong customer relationships through the more difficult times.

We have come up with the following tips that have helped us succeed. What are yours? Please share your insights and learn tips that have helped other businesses.

Dione says…

“Honesty is number one.

I enjoy getting to know my clients and some of them have become really good friends.

Understand their needs/their clients needs and fulfilling it, not just trying to push what I “think” on them. Guiding them when they need or ask…”

~Dione – Impact Marketing and Design

Everybody needs them…Why not get them for free? Plus, with how versatile business cards are—you can use the extras as a toothpick, a bookmark, etc.—you’re definitely getting your money’s worth (Get it? Because they’re free?). All you have to do is supply the artwork or, for a fee, we can build a custom design for you.