The World of Proforma

27 ways to get publicity -- including 10 free ones!

2009-12-21T11:17:00.003-05:00

After years in this businesses, we finally wrote down a list of ways that businesses can get publicity. And the list surprised us!

Our list includes 27 ways that a business can get publicity. Sure, we broke out "advertising" into 8 different ways, since various forms of advertising media present their own special challenges and rewards. However, that's still a whole lot of ways for a company -- large, small or single-person -- can get people talking about it.

The best thing that we discovered with this list? There are 10 ways that cost nothing, or almost nothing, for the company.

In 2010, we hope to present these ideas to various organizations as part of our marketing efforts (by the way "Be the Expert -- do presentations to groups" is one of the items on the list). So, if you'd like for us to speak to your business-focused group or organization, let us know. Or, if you'd like more information about our list of 27 Ways to Get Publicity, send us an e-mail.

We also have plans to publish an e-mail blast detailing one aspect of publicity each week. If you want to receive it, just send us your e-mail address and we'll add you to the list.

Time for some publicity!

2009-08-11T11:43:00.004-04:00

Let's be honest -- businesses are hurting. More competition and fewer dollars to spend (both from consumers and businesses to spend on themselves) have made today's business climate incredibly difficult.

Business owners can do themselves a favor by putting together a solid plan of action to help them generate some publicity for their business. After years of working in marketing and public relations -- and speaking to hundreds of business owners -- we've crafted a very broad list of 27 ways that a business can get publicity. Some of the methods are incredibly expensive -- and some are free.

Free?

Yes, it's possible in this day and age to actually get free publicity for your business. Here it is:

Let an organization use your business office or parking lot to stage an event.

If you work in an office, there are all types of groups that be just a bit too large to meet in someone's house and need a place to conduct a meeting. Think networking groups, MADD, charitable groups, AA, fraternal organizations, etc. And if you don't have a meeting room, you can still let a group use your parking lot for a car wash, bake sale, clothing drive, or craft show.

Basically, these organizations will tell people where their event is, which will publicize your business. In turn, your business will be seen as a "good neighbor" who is willing to help out community organizations.

And that, my friend, is good publicity.

And free!

Social media...is it really working for anyone?

2009-07-28T19:11:00.002-04:00

I've been reading a lot about the various social media and its effects on businesses. As with just about every available subject, there are experts who "claim" to know about everything about each subject..no matter how little hard evidence there is to support their claims.

Anyway, people are claiming that social media -- Facebook, blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a whole mess of others -- are the "next big thing" for businesses. The only thing missing is proof.

Sure, they can quote some study and find some business owner somewhere who will back up there claims (and how difficult is that really? Remember, they found a dentist who DIDN'T recommend sugarless gum) and the expert can go on their merry way.

The problem/challenge is that right now, every business everywhere is trying to get the same results that were quoted by the "expert"...and not feeling too good when their results don't measure up.

We were working with a customer who wanted to "tweak" (read: totally redo) the company's website because they weren't getting anything out of it. A quick look at the site revealed myriad problems -- the site and business had different names, the site wasn't promoted on the company's e-mails, etc...and those were the ones that just jumped out at me.

All of this new media -- and the older stuff too, like websites -- isn't like Field of Dreams. You can't just build it and hope they will come. It takes some work -- and a coordinated effort -- to get the most out of any marketing effort.

Heck, any expert will tell you that.

"...but what if they know someone really important?"

2009-04-14T21:26:00.003-04:00

I had an interesting discussion the other day regarding turning down business. Yea, you read that right.

You're probably thinking, "Rich ,in this crazy economic climate, why would anyone turn down business?" And, in a lot of ways, you're right -- you probably shouldn't. But, now more than ever, it makes sense to turn down business.

Before you're thinking that Proforma really should introduce some stricter drug-testing procedures, let me explain.

First, most companies (including ours) are set up to do business with a certain type of customer. Another way to phrase that is, we're set up to sell a certain way. For instance, you don't go to a supermarket to buy one Cheerio. You have to buy it buy the box. There are lots of different size boxes, but chances are pretty good that you can't buy just one Cheerio.

Same with most businesses. Items are packaged to make the sale more convenient -- sometimes it's more convenient for the customer, sometimes it's more convenient for the retailer.

Sliding to our businesses, sometimes in an effort to please everyone we'll quickly accept any order -- whether it fits our business model or not. And that's just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Why? Because while we're doing something that honestly doesn't work for us, we're taking time away from doing something that might work for us -- calling customers, meeting with vendors, prospecting, marketing, etc.

The one common refrain I hear when I tell people about not accepting jobs is "well, you never know who they might now." Of course, everyone knows LOTS of people (if you don't think that's true, remember the guest list at your wedding). However, just because they know someone doesn't mean they're going to refer you to anyone. And even if they do refer you to someone, there are two additional challenges -- first, getting that person to buy from you and second, hoping that the second person doesn't also want a small order.

The point about "you never know who they know" was brought to light recently by someone using the game "six degrees of separation." This person said that if we bought into that rule, he's only 6 people away from knowing Kevin Bacon.

Of course.

We all are.

The point is, when doing business we need to do smart business. Most people will appreciate it if you honestly say "no, we're really not equipped to do that job properly." They'll probably appreciate it even more if you can refer them to someone who can.

And for the record, I know someone whose friend works at a restaurant where Kevin Bacon's sister is the manager. So I'm only 3 people away from meeting him now...

Character marketing -- is it for you?

2009-03-30T20:54:00.003-04:00

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a vendor who does some pretty amazing things with plush animals (you may also called them stuffed animals). We were trying to figure out how these items can be used as a marketing device to male-dominated industries. After all, as soon as you hear the phrase "stuffed animal", most people think about baby toys like teddy bears.

We started to push each other to be more and more creative, and eventually we arrived at what we considered to be some excellent ideas (well, of course they were excellent -- they were ours!). Instead of simply trying to convince companies to use plush/stuffed animals in their marketing efforts, we thought they could be a complementary piece to a character marketing program.

So, what is character marketing? It's simply giving a face -- usually an animated one -- to a business.

Say what?

Here are some examples -- Charlie the Tuna, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Ronald McDonald, Count Chocula, the Vlasic pickle store, the Morton Salt girl, the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut from Planters, the Gorton's fisherman, Mr. Clean, the Phillie Phanatic (and a whole host of other sports mascot characters).

So how can this work in the promotional products realm? Obviously, you can recreate this mascot/character on any printed pieces, but you can also recreate this character on three-dimensional items as well, like stress relievers, flash drives, masks, full-size characters, ...heck, just think of everything you've seen with the Phillie Phanatic's face on it.

Next time your company is thinking of branding or re-branding, give some consideration to giving your company some character.

One week, 2 trade shows

2009-03-15T17:16:00.005-04:00

We had the chance to make it to two industry trade shows this past week. The first one was the ASI (Advertising Specialty Institute) Show, which was held at the Javits Center in New York City. It's probably the biggest show on the East Coast, filled with numerous manufacturers trying to show off the latest and greatest in the promotional products world.

The second show was the Imprinted Sportswear Show, held in Atlantic City. This show, which is primarily geared toward companies that decorate clothing, either through silk screening, digital print or embroidery.

While both shows were well-attended and offered a lot to see and do, there wasn't a ton at either show that was truly different enough to create a strong buzz in the industry, unlike the "Lance Armstrong bracelets" of a few years ago.

At the ASI show, there were two exhibits that caught my eye. One was a company that makes a hat with a bottle opener in the brim of the hat. The second company was one that makes Big Stuff (like oversized items). Both companies offered items that are unique enough to create interest and sales -- which is the point.

The big "news" from the ISS Show was the continuing advancement in digital printing. When it was first introduced, just a few short years ago, this method of printing was limited mostly to white and ash-colored shirts. Now, thanks to the advancements in technology, printing and inks, even black shirts look great digitally printed.

Seeing just these few items -- the hat, the big stuff, and the digital printing -- makes these shows worthwhile. These shows (and by now most people know I'm a big fan of trade shows) help us to stay sharp and always have new options to offer our clients and customers.

And, at a time when companies are trying to make themselves noticed, these options can make a lot of difference.

Trade Show Season...time for new ideas

2009-03-04T22:18:00.003-05:00

It seems like the trade show season is upon us. Time to break out your best welcoming smile, your stack of business cards, your most comfortable shows, and your best ideas and ... then what?

If your company is like most, you're either going to set up or attend a trade show sometime in the near future. And, if you're like most companies, you probably will drag out a tablecloth or the tired booth design and hope to draw people to you booth with some pens or some frisbees or some trite idea.

But you don't have to.

Through the miracle of Facebook, we recently were able to put together a list of 30 trade show promotions. We don't mean 30 different things to give out at your booth, but rather 30 ideas for activities that you can do at your booth to generate buzz and traffic..and hopefully sales. Some of the ideas are BIG ideas...and some are admittedly small. The one thing they have in common, however, is that they have all been done before and they all worked before.

We've also put together a three-page Marketing Checklist to help companies with their marketing programs -- which should include trade shows. In fact, this checklist can easily be adapted for a specific event, like a trade show or product launch or mailing program.

Curious? Interested? Let us know....

The holiday that isn't

2009-02-17T09:38:00.004-05:00

So yesterday was supposed to be President's Day.

An outside of the "standard" closings like schools, banks and the freaking post office, it seemed like many businesses skipped the holiday. My daughter, who attends the local Catholic school, had school.

So what happened? When did national holidays stop being holidays?

It used to be that Presidents Day was about he only thing to look forward to in the winter. You come back to work or school in the new year and you pretty much had it targeted -- that one, three-day weekend in February. A perfect chance to go skiiing, sneak away for a three-day weekend, or just kick back and enjoy it, but no more.

It's bad enough that most businesses fail to recognize Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a holiday (well, except for banks and the freaking post office), but Presidents Day? The next "official" holiday (excluded unofficial holidays like St. Patrick's Day and Baseball's Opening Day, of course) isn't until Easter (and that's on a Sunday). To find a Monday holiday, we're going to go all the way till the end of May and Memorial Day! That's wayyyy too long.

Don't think that employees won't get "even" and call out on some Friday or Monday to get in a well-deserved three-day weekend (maybe Good Friday, or St. Patrick's Day or Opening Day? Hmmmmm...).

Enjoy the day off! You deserve it!

Social networking...it's cool, but what else

2009-01-02T20:32:00.002-05:00

So my friend John has been abusing me for not being on Facebook recently. Yesterday, I took the plunge and joined.

Today, I have over 50 friends.

Uhhh, now what?

The social networking phenomenon is exactly that. A great way to keep in touch, stay in touch and update people on what's going on with your life. Heck, if you want to, you can update your Facebook status by the minute. Not that anyone really needs play-by-play of someone else's life, but you get the idea.

There are other social networking sites, like MySpace, Plaxo and others I'm not too sure of. Facebook is supposedly the largest of them right now.

There are experts who claim that businesses can use these services as a way to keep in touch with clients, attract customers and gain new cusotmers. I'm note exactly sure how, although I'm sure the experts know the answer to that mystery.

I'll update every now and then to let you know when (if?) our business starts to enjoy the fruits of Facebook. In the meantime, look me up and add me as a friend. Just don't ask me why....

What are "measurable results?"

2008-12-29T19:12:00.003-05:00

One of the biggest challenges we face each sale is trying to convince customers that promotional products are "worth it." Like every expense, businesses want to make sure that the dollars they are spending on promotional items get them some type of result. The result needs to "measurable"...or to use another marketing buzzphrase, customers want to be sure they get a Return on Investment (ROI).

So, how do we help our customers get that measurable result, especially when you're dealing with something like a promotional product? First of all, let's change the phrase and instead refer to those image-building items as "advertising specialties," because thats whatt they are. When you pay for something with your name on it, and you expect people to see it and be moved to action, it's an advertising vehicle.

Now let's examine a few differnet ways that we can measure the results of this type of advertising.
-- Set up a special e-mail account tied in with your advertising. For example, “To receive our special report on the 100 Best Restaurants to Wear a Tie-Dye Shirt," send an e-mail to “tiedye@xxxx.com”.
-- Have an item imprinted so customers need to redeem it in to receive a discount or free item. For example, a karate studio we worked with gave away pens at a local parade with the offer: “Bring in this pen for a free introductory lesson and uniform.” To gauge the response rate, all they needed to do was count the pens that were redeemed. Or you can print “mention this item when you order to receive a 5% discount.” Again, a simple collection of items -- or a tic chart" will help you see if the advertising is working.
-- If you include a phone number on your advertising materials, think about using a new or special number just with this item. For example, if you order desk accessories with a phone number on it, you can track how many people see this item just by counting the number of phone calls you receive. If a new phone number is too expensive, there are less-expensive options. You can set up a special e-mail account. You can even set up a ficticious person in your office and track how many calls "Betty" or "Lou" gets. Or, the simplest yet -- you can simply have your staff ask “how did you hear about us” when a potential customer calls.

Of course, there are a number of other options to make sure your advertising is working for you, as well. You may want to order a less expensive item than you had originally planned so you can order more (for example, a short-sleeve t-shirt instead of a long-sleeve), or consider having your logo imprinted in one color instead of two or three, or silk-screened instead of embroidered.

Another idea is to order items that can serve two purposes. For example, you can order a magnet with a punch-out piece, with the magnet becoming a picture frame and the punch-out piece is a coupon or advertisement for you. You can also order postcards with magnets glued to it so you get the benefit of a postcard mailing, along with the long-lasting placement of a magnet.

The key phrase to remember in this new economy is “measured results.” You want to be able to know where your customers are coming from based on where you spend your advertising dollars.

In today’s world, you can’t afford to simply advertise for the sake of advertising; you want to be able to know that your dollars are well-spent. Be sure that when (not if!) you advertise, you know which forms of advertising are generating the best response. It's simply a measure of your success.

Place a $2500 order -- get an Ipod shuffle

2008-11-17T17:03:00.000-05:00

The fine folks at Proforma World Headquarters have just announced a sales contest. The cool thing about this contest is that everybody wins!

To win, all you have to do is place an order for $2500 or more between now and Dec. 1. If you do, you'll receive an ultra-chic Ipod Shuffle.

The best part of the contest (especially if you're cheap like some of my relatives) is that the Shuffle won't be branded -- that is, it won't say the Proforma name on it anywhere. Why's that good? Two words -- re-gifting.

Yup, you can actually get something just for doing business with us, and if you don't want it you can wrap it up and give it to someone as a holiday or birthday gift. How cool is that?

For more info, send us an e-mail at Creative.Services@proforma.com or call us at 856-753-0200.

Breast cancer & bowling -- a touchy subject

2008-10-28T10:41:00.000-04:00

So we're cruising the aisles at the recent South Jersey Chamber of Commerce show, and we run into one of our new favorite people. Mary Hunter, who I know from a networking group, is at company's booth, smiling, chatting, pleasant as usual.

I know that Mary is running an event to raise money for Breast Cancer awareness. She dubbed the event "Bowling For Boobs." Now you have an idea of why she's one our New Favorite People List.

So I'm talking to Mary about the event, asking her when it is and how the fundraising is doing. I then casually drop the idea to sell a t-shirt at the event saying "I spared the pair"... a risque double-entendre about a bowling and boobs. She laughed and sort-of laughed off the idea.

Until the next morning.

"I talked to my husband about your idea," she said. "He loved it. Can we do it? The event's next week."

We quickly huddled with our designers and combined some of Mary's ideas with some of our own. We modified the awareness "ribbon" to incorporate two bowling pins. We put he name of the event on the shirt, two well-positioned bowling balls and the "I spared the pair" tagline. We had 50 white shirts printed with the design printed in pink and dropped them off a couple of hours before the event. And the shirts sold out...success all around!

We told this story to a few people, and were surprised at the reaction. While most enjoyed it, one person thought we were making light of breast cancer. Another thought the placement of the "bowling balls" was in poor taste.

My response...."oh well."

I admire Mary's gumption for taking a serious health threat that is generally talked about in hushed terms and having a bit of fun with it. Most men are reluctant to talk about "breasts" -- and especially breast cancer -- but have no trouble with the word boobs. And the fact that Mary was able to combine all of this on a t-shirt -- which helped raised money for an admirable cause -- is especially satisfying.

What do you think about the idea and the shirt? Feel free to post your response...

The magic of trade shows

2008-10-19T22:17:00.000-04:00

Tried a little something different at a recent trade show. We decided to set up a table at the recent Builders League of South Jersey expo (http://www.blsj.org/). This show is designed to let area builders know what services are available from other members of the organization.

Last year, we kinda went overboard. We invited one of our clothing suppliers to bring a display of outdoor and work clothing. We also had former Philadelphia Flyers player Brian Propp signing autographs at our booth. While we generated a lot of interest at our booth, we weren't able to convert that buzz into many sales.

This year, we invited our neighbor, magician Richie B (http://www.richiebmagic.com/, in case you're interested) to be at our booth to entertain people. Our thought was that he could at least get people to stop for more than a second or two.

Mission accomplished.

Not only did Rich entertain a LOT of people, he also created some tricks specifically concerning our printing and ad specialties capabilities. Additionally, at the conclusion of each trick (most lasted 1-2 minutes, he would place one of our brochures into the spectator's hands and then introduce them to us.

Very classy, very professional, and very successful.

We just started our first round of follow-up phone calls to people who handed us their card and expressed an interest in our services. I'll keep you posted....

A warning about internet shopping & Vista Print

2008-09-03T20:25:00.000-04:00

A number of people buy business cards and other printed materials from Vista Printing (also known as Vistaprint.com). While we're going to badmouth our competition or tell you how to do your business, this news article might be enough to give you a reason to want to deal with a human instead of the faceless monolith known as the internet. The following article is printed verbatim from the Advertising Specialty Institute website:

VistaPrint Named in Four Federal Class-Action Lawsuits (8/28/2008)

Four class-action lawsuits have been brought against VistaPrint, a small business marketing company with over 15 million customers worldwide, regarding unauthorized charges of the credit cards and bank accounts of customers who purchased items on the company's U.S. Web site. VistaPrint Limited and its U.S. subsidiary, along with Vertrue Inc. and its subsidiary Adaptive Marketing LLC, were named as defendants in all four cases. VistaPrint revealed on Thursday in a press release that pending cases were filed in New Jersey and Texas, but Counselor has learned that additional class-action suits were filed yesterday in both Massachusetts and Alabama.

"As we allege in the complaint, we believe that VistaPrint and Vertrue are acting in concert to access consumers' credit card information and then begin charging them relatively small amounts," says Jerome Noll, counsel for the plaintiff that filed the Massachusetts suit. "You're talking about $14.95 a month or $12.95 a month, hoping that consumers just won't notice."

Dolores Gordon, the plaintiff in the Massachusetts case, claims that there were six unauthorized charges on her credit card of $14.95 each after she purchased business cards from VistaPrint on Sept. 1, 2007. One unauthorized charge was allegedly from VistaPrint and five were from Shopping Essentials, a trademark of Adaptive Marketing. Gordon says she canceled her card to stop the charges. "She had contacted the defendants many times over the six months asking them for credit and for them to stop charging her," says Noll, whose firm has also filed a lawsuit in Connecticut against Vertrue. "They would tell her, 'Yes, of course, we'll give you the credit, of course we'll stop charging you.' They never did."

The complaints, all filed in federal courts, allege that the defendants were in violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (which protects from unauthorized charges) and the federal Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (which prohibits the unlawful access of financial information). VistaPrint could not comment due to pending litigation. Its press release states, "VistaPrint believes it has meritorious defenses to these lawsuits and intends to defend these matters vigorously."

Interesting trade show stats

2008-08-10T22:40:00.000-04:00

I recently attended a seminar on tradeshows, and one statistic during the presentation really stuck out.

According to the speaker, statistics have shown that only 12% of the tradeshow attendees are your customers. Think about that -- for every 100 people in a trade show on any given day, only 12 of them are potential customers for your business.

Crazy numbers, isn't it? If you expand on those numbers, if there are 5000 people in attendance, only 600 are potential customers.

So what are you doing to get those 12% -- the right 12% -- to your booth? And once they're at your booth, what are you doing to convert them from potential customers to actual customers?

We'll be posting lots of trade show ideas over the next few weeks. Feel free to e-mail us if you have questions..

Tradeshows -- not quite the beginning

2008-07-21T21:48:00.000-04:00

To continue from our last discussion, you (or your company) has decided to attend a trade show. The booth space has been reserved and (hopefully) airline and hotel rooms have been booked.

Now what?

Now is when people gather in a room, look at each other, and say in their best Chris Farley impersonation from "Tommy Boy", "What are we gonna doooooo??"

Good question. And even better, good timing.

Far too often, companies don't plan what they're going to do at their booth. Hard to believe, but you almost believe that companies think that showing up is "good enough." Or, worse yet, there may actually be a conversation that goes "check and see what we have left in the supply closet. We'll give that stuff away."

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Luckily, we're still early enough in the planning stages to actually plan something. For instance, are we going to hand out information? If so, what type? A flyer? A brochure? A sell sheet? A folder? Maybe we should decide now, get the handouts designed and printed and avoid rush charges.

Or, are we going to have some type of theme for our booth? Maybe an island theme? A futuristic theme? A golf or sports theme? If so, let's decide now. Will we need special decorations? special props? special clothing?

What are we going to wear? Will it tie into the theme? Will we be shirt and tie, business casual, Hawaiian shirts, golf shirts, etc?

How about an activity? What we will be doing on at our booth? A hole in one putting contest? A spin-and-win wheel? A trivia contest? Decisions, decisions, decisions...

How about what you'll be distributing at your booth? Sure, you may have literature on-hand (see above), but are you going to also have promotional items as well? There are only about 600,000 different items you have a company logo affixed to -- it may be tough to pick one.

In our next post, we'll come up with some answers to these questions... and then continue toward the show!

Tradeshows -- the beginning

2008-07-20T14:05:00.000-04:00

I don't think I'd be understating the importance of tradeshows in today's business environment. There is no more better way to introduce yourself, your company, or your products to a large number of potential customers at one time.

So how come some companies are so bad at it?

The truth is, many companies see trade shows -- whether it's an industry show, a consumer show or even a Chamber of Commerce show -- as a necessary evil, rather than a potentially huge part of their marketing plan.

So, before we really begin, let's state some basic truths about trade shows. First, and more important, they are not a sales opportunity. The percentage of companies that make an actual sale on the show floor is very, very small. The salesperson, marketing person or company owner who complains about the lack of sales at a tradeshow is basically missing the entire point of being there. A trade show is a chance to start or build relationships, introduce or reinforce your brand, or introduce a new product.

The results of setting up at a trade show are almost never seen immediately. Rather, they can be discovered in the post-show followup or possibly weeks, months or even YEARS afterward.

OK, now that we have that piece of info out of the way (not that we won't be referring to it in follow-up posts), let's start with how to effectively utilize trade shows...from the beginning.

First things first. You've decided to set-up at a trade show. Congratulations. You've sent your down payment into the show organizers and you've made your transportation and lodging arrangements (if necessary, of course). Now what?

Now you have to figure out what you're going to do at the show. And that's where the fun begins.

And that's where we'll continue our discussion next time...

Coming soon...tradeshows!

2008-07-17T18:09:00.000-04:00

In the very near future, we're going to writing an entire series of articles on tradeshows. This will (hopefully) have all the information you need to ensure that you or your company gets the most bang for its tradeshow buck.

We'll be discussing everything from what to wear, what to distribute at your booth, what activities to have, pre-show mailings, post-show follow-up and lots more. We think it'll be very helpful information for you, whether you're a one-person business thinking about setting up at your local Chamber of Commerce show, or the tradeshow coordinator for a multi-national corporation.

As always, your questions and feedback are welcome.

Help us with a mascot!!!

2008-05-26T23:20:00.000-04:00

Hey all:

I spent way too much time this weekend watching all kinds of sports events. In the interim, I was reading some marketing magazines and articles and it hit me -- we need a mascot! No, not a real-life furry thing like the Phillie Phantic, just a two-dimensional character to give us a bit of a personality. Someone (something?) who represents who we are and what we do.

So, here's what we're going to do -- we're going to have a two-part contest.

For the creatively-challenged, we get to come up with a name for this new mascot.

For those who are more creative (read: those who can draw), you get to try to come up with a character or image.

I'll find some cool stuff to give away as prizes to the people who help us out the most.

Submit your ideas via e-mail to: Rich.Bradley@proforma.com. In the subject line, use the word "mascot."

Thanks!!!!

Going green

2008-05-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

There's been a big push in the promotional products industry to "go green." It seems like everyday we receive another catalog or mailing or e-mail about a new "green" product.

Now, I'm a big fan of the earth. I haven't really found a much better place to live up to this point. However, I haven't received one call or e-mail from a customer or prospect asking for something "green" -- even from companies that I thought might be heavily in favor of promoting a green effort. In fact, the closest I've heard is "we're just looking for ways to not use as much paper."

OK, I guess you have to start somewhere, but that hardly seems like corporate tree-hugging.

I'd love to hear from anyone whose company has really embraced the green movement, and what they've done.

Having some fun on Cinco De Mayo

2008-05-05T22:12:00.000-04:00

OK, so maybe Cinco De Mayo isn't the biggest holiday here on the East Coast, but don't tell that to any of friends back in San Diego. Not that we're ever at a loss to celebrate something, but we figured we'd take a break from our usual "stuff", and have a little bit of fun with a trivia contest.

Since I'll be giving the answers at the end of the column, there won't be any prizes if you get everything right, but some smug satisfaction of knowing that you know a lot of little-known facts. Test yourself out..some of these are a bit tricky (and depending on your political slant, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McClain are not correct answers to any of these questions).

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward.

3. Of all vegetables (yuck!), only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perenial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquors stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. How did the pear get in the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable (more vegetables???) or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet, that begin with the letter 's'.

Answers:
1. Boxing
2. Niagara Falls
3. Asparagus and rhubarb
4. Strawberry
5. It grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small.
6. Dwarf, dwell and dwindle
7. Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces and ellipses.
8. Lettuce
9. Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

How'd you do? E-mail me the number of correct answers at Rich.Bradley@proforma.com. For the record, I got four right...but at least I know the names of the two actors who played Darren on "Bewitched." So there!!

Don't look now, but we're worldwide

2008-02-27T23:16:00.000-05:00

Back in the hair-crazed '80s, that Little Old Band from Texas, ZZ Top, proclaimed that "they're bad, they're nationwide."

Well, to paraphrase from that rockin' trio, "we're worldwide."

Through the technology of the internet, we've been able to see to clients in 10 states during our brief time in business -- including California and Idaho. But just recently, we've been able to add merry ol' England to our customer base. Not once, but twice.

OK, the first one technically we didn't sell to England. One of our long-standing clients, EP Medsystems, is having their European sales meeting in England, and we provided the awards for their best salespeople and distributors. So even though the plaques were produced right here in beautiful New Joisey, their intended destination was across the pond.

Our second trip to England took us to Oxford University (and they said we'd never get in there -- so there!). Our sister company, Studio One22, designed a brochure for the school to use in its recruiting efforts. Definitely cool.

Of course, that doesn't mean we're abandoning the Delaware Valley. It's still our home and where we do about 90% of our business, and the place where we learned how to correctly pronouce "atty-tood." But it's kind of fun to visit other places -- if only as part of a plaque or a brochure.

The wonderful sticky note

2008-02-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, you wonder how we survived without sticky notes....

A new year, a new project

2008-01-07T09:20:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe that it's already 2008 (although I'm still waiting for all those Jetson-like appliances to become part of my every day life).

With the new year comes a new project. Like most people, there are little things that seem to bug me. One of my pet peeves is going to a store, buying something, swiping your credit or debit card, and then then having a clerk hand you a pen to sign it. And the pen has the name of a bank, their accountant, or some other business printed on it. Here's my peeve -- don't these businesses realize they're missing a prime opportunity to advertise THEIR business, and not someone else's?

Chances are good the answer is no. Too often, the owners of these small businesses are so concerned with the day-to-day operations to think about marketing themselves. An ad in the yellow pages, some poorly printed flyers, and open the doors is a marketing plan. And that's hardly a plan.

We've developed a very simple way for businesses to combat a small part of their lack of advertising plans. We've developed a website -- http://www.yournameonapen.com/ -- where businesses can download a simple-to-follow form and order imprinted pens. All of the color options are right there to make it as simple as possible. Hopefully the price -- $175 for 300 Bic Clic Stic pens -- shouldn't scare anyone off. At less than 60 cents per pen (which includes tax and shipping), we think it's a highly effective, low-cost way to promote a business.

If you own a small business, we recommend to you give it a try. Sure, it's not the Jetsons, but it's still pretty cool.

Happy 2008!

Complete pendemonium!

2007-12-05T15:13:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how something so small can create some large problems.
We were doing some cleaning the other day and came across a pen that was leaking slightly. Luckily, the pen was in a coffee mug, so it didn’t ruin anything major. However, it got me to thinking about all of the things that could possibly go wrong with something as minor as a pen.
Pens are the most commonly purchased promotional product, easily outdistancing calendars and drinkwear. So obviously, there are a lot of pens being brought and handed out to customers and potential customers. And with the majority of pens costing less than $1, it’s a bargain. Amazingly enough, despite their relative low cost, many people want to pay even less.
(Time to cue up Rich's Mantra: "Cheap is not always good. Good is not always cheap." Repeat until you're convinced).
Anyway, getting back to our "bargain" pens. If something goes wrong with one of these pens, just how much of a bargain is it? And when we started thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong, we found 14 potential problems. From a pen! Yikes!
1. Information on the imprint is wrong
2. Imprint color is wrong
3. Imprint is bad/comes off easily
4. Pen barrel color is wrong
5. Pen trim color is wrong
6. Ink color is wrong
7. Plunger mechanism is broken
8. Pen doesn’t write
9. Ink skips
10. Not enough ink
11. Ink leaks from pen
12. Pen cap is missing
13. Pen is broken
14. Pocket clip breaks off easily

OK...now we're talking 14 potential problems with something that usually costs about 50 cents or so.

Ah, but wait. I can hear the skeptics among you saying "So what? It's just a pen. If something goes wrong, I'll just throw it out and use another."

Good argument. Except that the pen then becomes A WASTE OF MONEY. No matter if it cost 30 cents, 50 cents, 75 cents or $1, that company has just wasted some amount of money. And if that's the way they want to spend their advertising dollars, that's just a shame.

And let's not forget what happens if that leaking pen happens to leak in a pants pocket, a shirt pocket, a purse or on some very important papers. The cost of that leak is now MUCH MORE than the price of that pen.

Which is why you need to be extremely careful when buying pens. Ask for recommendations. Ask for samples. Ask for whatever else you need to make sure that you don't fall victim to one of the 14 problems listed above. Or even one of them.

The cost of doing business

2007-11-20T23:20:00.000-05:00

I'm always amazed at how prices -- unless they're printed out and stuck onto an item -- seem to be negotiable. It's as if a sign attached to an item means "This is the price. Pay it." No sign, and it's haggle city, baby!

We recently came across a situation that reinforced that notion. We created a brochure for a customer. When he received his bill for the design services, he balked at the price -- big time. "I could have done this for a lot less... like nothing."

Of course, as we all know, nothing hardly means nothing. We'll conveniently overlook the cost of his time and the cost of the computer to do the work. But still, there was something about his argument that struck a nerve.

I pointed out that yes, he could have done it himself. Just like he can fix a leaky faucet himself, or rewire the electricity in his house. And yes, in the end it would be done. But, I cautioned, would it be done right? And would it really be free?

I don't know what a plumber costs these days. Let's say, for the sake of using a round number, a plumber is $100 per hour. So you have a leaky faucet, the plumber comes to your house, you explain the situation, he looks at the faucet, goes to his truck, gets one of his "never seen that before" tools, goes under the sick...twist, twist, grunt, grunt, grunt -- and he extracts himself from under your sink. "Done," he says.

As you get the bill, you think "Damn, I could have done that myself...and for a lot less."

Of course you could, if:
-- you had enough experience to know what you're doing
-- you owed the right tools
-- you knew you could do the job right, the first time.

Cause if you didn't have any of the above, you might have to spend some money to get:
-- a book to help explain what you have to do
-- the right tools to do the job
-- a chance that your sink won't leak into your basement and flood your house.

But if you did everything right, it wouldn't cost you anything (except the book and the tools).

We used this analogy with our customer. Our designers already have the books (in their heads, based on years of experience). They already have the tools (computers and programs to do the job correctly), and if the artwork isn't prepared correctly, we can fix it (without the basement getting flooded).

You can use the same example for fixing your car, painting the house, bringing down a tree, etc. There's a reason these things are referred to as "professional services." Best to let a professional do it.

We're growing...

2007-10-25T10:53:00.000-04:00

We recently hired our first employee. Below is a copy of the press release we sent out...

Amber McGoff Joins Proforma Creative Services

Atco, NJ – October 25, 2007 – Proforma Creative Services is pleased to welcome Amber McGoff as the newest member of its design team. Her main function will be to create and design graphic communications and marketing collateral to help local businesses to meet their printing and promotional products needs.

Rich Bradley, President of Proforma Creative Services, says, “Amber has 3 years of design experience and is extremely familiar with the printing business as her family owns a printing company in her hometown. Her expertise in design and printing will enable us to better serve our customers. We are very excited to welcome her to our team, and offer our customers even more design capabilities.”

A native of Scranton, Pa., McGoff is a recent graduate of Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. She was previously employed with Duplicraft Printing and Euro RSCG, and is a member of the Phil Sigma Pi National Honors Fraternity.

Proforma Creative Services, established in 2003, is part of a Proforma network of 600 independent offices throughout North America. With state-of-the-art technologies, Proforma Creative Services enables its clients to grow with innovative marketing solutions such as direct mail, promotional products and business document printing.

With 29 years of experience, Proforma remains clearly focused on providing solutions to North American businesses for their printing and promotional needs. A leading provider of promotional products, printing, business documents, and e-solutions, Proforma has received numerous awards and is recognized as one of the top five largest companies in our industry. Proforma serves over 50,000 clients through more than 600 member offices in North America. The Proforma Worldwide Support Center is located in Cleveland, Ohio. www.proforma.com.

The "other side" of the table

2007-10-23T21:42:00.000-04:00

We're still recovering from working at our booth last week at the Builders League of South Jersey Associates Expo. It was our first time setting up a solo display at a trade show, although we previously set up with two other Proforma owners at a Chamber of Commerce show about 4 years ago.

Trade shows are, by nature, a huge challenge. There are dozens upon dozens of small and large details that need to be done just to make sure the show runs smoothly. And even if everything runs smoothly, there's no guarantee of success.

Our biggest decisions involved what to do at our booth. We made arrangements to get the Proforma corporate booth, which showed up on time as promised. The only problem was, the booth was much smaller than we had anticipated. We expected an 8- to 10-foot booth. Instead, it was a 6-x-5 tabletop booth. After setting it up on the ground, we decided at the last minute to put it on a table, like it was supposed to be. As I looked at this booth sitting on the ground, I had this really bad image of the drawfs dancing around the paper mache copy of Stonehenge in the movie Spinal Tap.

However, once we moved the booth, then our display didn't quite work. After some bending, folding, and generous amounts of duct tape, we had our booth looking good.

We set up our samples and handouts -- golf ball markers and gooey brains (no, not together). We also had lots of our sales literature available. So far, so good. (Editor's note -- if you want us to send you a sample of either the brains or the golf balls markers, send us an e-mail).

However, 60 minutes before the show was to start, our partner (who had all of the clothing that we were going to display) hadn't shown up. Calls to her cell phone went unanswered. However, she showed up, set up and was ready to go as the doors opened. Whew!

Our next challenge was hoping that our autograph guest, Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Famer (and current radio announcer) Brian Propp, would show up. Luckily, was early.

The last detail was my wife (and the company's graphic designer) showing up on time. With the parking situation being a bit challenging, she was a bit late, but arrived with her samples in time to chat up the numerous guests who stopped by our booth.

All in all, the show was a great success. We made numerous contacts that hopefully will turn in to clients int he coming months. Brian Propp was a fantastic guest -- extremely cordial, willing to chat with fans, pose for pictures and autograph everything that was asked of him. Our booth even won second prize in the booth display contest. All in all, a good evening.

Of course, we probably would have taken first prize if it weren't for those dancing dwarfs at our booth.....

My apology -- for everything, to everyone

2007-09-04T21:50:00.000-04:00

I'm sure I'm not the only person who finds this whole Michael Vick thing tremendously fascinating.

A celebrity athlete, in the prime of his career, charged with a heinous crime against animals that ends up putting his football career in jeopardy sounds more like the plot of a bad made-for-TV movie than something that could actually happen in real life. But what I found particularly interesting was how Vick crafted a very generic apology. It's become almost as interesting to see how people implicated in wrongdoing "apologize" for their crimes without ever admitting to anything.

A few years ago, Jason Giambi made a very carefully worded statement about his use of steroids (or not). It was tough to tell what he was apologizing for, since he never actually admitted doing anything wrong.

Vick's apology took that to a whole new level.

"First, I want to apologize, you know, for all the things that -- that I've done and that I have allowed to happen. I want to personally apologize to commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, coach Bobby Petrino, my Atlanta Falcons teammates, you know, for our — for our previous discussions that we had. And I was not honest and forthright in our discussions, and, you know, I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself to say the least."

OK...good start....apologizing for the "things" he's done and allowed to happen. Of course, we'll expect to find out what those "things" are...

"I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts and, you know, what I did was, what I did was very immature so that means I need to grow up."

OK, now he's immature, and done "things." Go on..

"I take full responsibility for my actions. For one second will I sit right here — not for one second will I sit right here and point the finger and try to blame anybody else for my actions or what I've done.
I'm totally responsible, and those things just didn't have to happen. I feel like we all make mistakes. It's just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions. And you know, those things, you know, just can't happen."

Nope, those things can't just happen. Whatever those things are, that is.

"I offer my deepest apologies to everybody out in there in the world who was affected by this whole situation. And if I'm more disappointed with myself than anything it's because of all the young people, young kids that I've let down, who look at Michael Vick as a role model. And to have to go through this and put myself in this situation, you know, I hope that every young kid out there in the world watching this interview right now who's been following the case will use me as an example to using better judgment and making better decisions.
"Once again, I offer my deepest apologies to everyone. And I will redeem myself. I have to."

Yup, redeem away....just be careful not to mention what "things" you did wrong.

Absolutely amazing. He did mention the word "dogfighting" once in his apology, but never to say that he was involved with it. Or that he (allegedly) was the money behind the operation.

Nooooooo.....what he seemed like (to me anyway) was that he was most sorry that he got caught.

And that's truly sorry.

Read! Subscribe! Buy!

2007-09-01T20:20:00.000-04:00

I'm one of those people who actually use the internet for information (yeah, yeah...just the they guys who read Playboy for the articles). I especially like to find "experts" on the subjects of Promotional Products (no surprise there), sales and marketing.

Almost always, these experts offer us free e-mail tips, just for subscribing to their daily or weekly newsletters. Seems pretty simple -- you get information you may want to read delivered directly to your in-box. Pretty easy.

In fact it's so easy, I subscribe to at least 6 such newsletters. Of course, all of these "experts" know how to help you sell more, make better profits, regrow your own hair and become rich beyond your wildest dreams. Here's an actual example of one of the marketing "tips" an expert sent (I'm going to paraphrase so I don't get my butt sued).

"When leaving a message on a prospect's voicemail, be sure that the absolute last thing you say is the person's name. This will show a sincere interest in the person and will give them a warm and fuzzy feeling about calling you back."

As if it was that easy.

"Hi, Mr. Prospect. I don't know you and you don't know me. Buy my stuff. I'll call to check in with you in six minutes, Mr. Prospect."

Of course, we know it doesn't work that way. Every salesperson and every customer has their own unique style, and there is no "one size fits all" strategy.

But that doesn't stop the so-called experts from trying. And here's the interesting point -- those experts aren't really trying to get you to increase YOUR sales -- they're trying to increase THEIR sales.

In addition to the free newsletter, there is always an offer to buy their six-month course for $299, with $14,000 worth of free gifts (a bit of an oxymoron, if you ask me. And check this out -- one of the free gifts was an e-book valued at $85 -- compared to a paperback which sells for $9.95). Obviously, someone is buying these. And even more obviously, someone is getting rich off of it.

So... coming soon....our special, three-times-a-day newsletter. This newsletter will be jam-packed with worthless information designed to help you sell more of whatever you sell. And it will be written with lots of short sentences! And exclamation points! And words that are capitalized FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHATSOVER!! Sign up now! Tell a friend. And you will also want to buy our 66-part companion sells guide for $199 -- which includes over $65,000 in FREE GIFTS!!! Lots of info! Lots more short sentences! All designed to make me FABULOUSLY WEALTHY!!!!

All you have to do is call our toll-free number and leave a message.

And make sure the last thing on that message is my name.

All the best....

Promotional advertising -- big and getting bigger

2007-07-15T14:54:00.000-04:00

Did you ever stop and think about who buys or uses promotional products?
The easy answer is, "a lot of people."
According to two recently completed studies the sales of promotional products (or advertising specialties) was either $18.6 or $18.8 billion -- BILLION -- in 2006.
The Advertising Specialty Institute said that sales grew 4.5% to more than $18.6 billion. The Promotional Products Association International, said that sales grew 4.2 percent, to $18.8 billion.
Just to put that in perspective, that's more money than was spent on cable tv advertising, more money than was spent on internet advertising, more money than was spent on Yellow Pages advertising and more money than was spent on outdoor advertising, and more money than Paris Hilton spent on lawyers.
There's a reason so many companies invest in promotional products as part of their marketing mix. Quite simply, they work. It's a unique form of advertising that gets directly to the person you intended it to -- they don't have to look it up in a book, or be tuned to the right channel and the right time to see your message, or be surfing on the right page.
The three largest product categories were wearables (t-shirts, sweat shirts, jackets, hats), which accounted for nearly 31% of sales. Writing instruments and calendars placed second and third, respectively.
If you are not using promotional products as part of your advertising, you may want to consider doing it. After all, there are 18.8 billion reasons to do so.

The Million Dollar Salesman

2007-07-14T00:46:00.000-04:00

I'm a Million-Dollar Salesman.

That's right. After four years and one month in business, we've finally broken the million-dollar mark.

I'm not going to use this space (or your time) to give an Academy Awards-type acceptance speech, but I do want to thank everyone -- family members, friends, clients, past clients and potential clients -- for helping us get to where we are.

Now comes the second million. Or, as my friend Brendan Quinn of Proforma Corporate Concepts told me, "You'll be surprised how much quicker the second million happens." As if I want to wait another 49 months to find out. Of course, it's easy for Brendan to be glib about it -- he sells over a million dollars per year of printing and advertising specialties.

OK, I've got something to shoot for. And with your help, I'll get there.

Thanks!

Guess what? We sell paint

2007-06-27T20:39:00.000-04:00

I was talking with a friend the other day, who was asking how business was going. After a brief discussion, he asked me about my networking efforts."Give me your elevator speech," he said.

"We sell printing and advertising specialties," I said. "Basically, if your name or logo goes on it, we can print it."

"That sucks," he replied (I told you we were friends, at least up until then.)

"You might as well say that you sell paint.""Paint?" I questioned. "I never said anything about paint."

"Of course you didn't. And a painter doesn't sell paint either. He sells a mood, a revitalization, a new look to a room or house. You can buy paint almost anywhere; that's not what he's selling. He's selling the entire service. He's selling the fact that you can look at a tiny swatch of paint, and he'll work with you to redesign a whole new look for your room or house. You'll trust him to come in, not leave paint stains on your carpet, and paint your walls to make the room look new and different. You're buying a lot more than paint -- that's what you have to get across to your customers, too."

Wow. I really, really hate it when he's right.

Especially that right.

So we tried to come up with something that encompasses all that we do. With over 700,000 items available, not to mention our experience in sales, marketing and graphic design, it's pretty tough to condense everything to 30 seconds or less. But here goes our new, revised elevator speech.

"We develop solutions to your marketing problems, and create ideas for your next sales meeting, promotion, trade show or giveaway involving all phases of printing, promotional products or corporate clothing."

Let us know what you think. Just don't ask us about paint.

Price vs. quality

2007-06-13T00:23:00.000-04:00

I saw a great quote from sales trainer Zig Ziglar regarding the ongoing "price vs. quality" battle. The quote is pretty self-explanatory.

"Many years ago our company made a basic decision. We decided that it would be easier to explain price one time than it would be to apologize for quality forever... And I'll bet you're glad we made that decision, aren't you?"

As usual, something to think about....

The yard sale and the lesson learned

2007-06-11T17:01:00.000-04:00

We were recently involved in our yearly neighborhood yard sale. You know, where you haul out all your junk to the curb to sell on a weekend and whatever doesn't sell gets hauled out to the curb during the week to get taken to a dump.

Anyway, this year's sale was a bit different for us. Nooooo, we didn't have someone come along and offer us a quadrillion dollars for our stuff/junk, nor did we find an original Picasso inside a lampshade. Instead we made money for a good cause.

While My Trophy Wife and I set about to try to sell things we longer used, our daughter set up a stand to benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand. I don't know where she got the idea, except that my daughter's name is Alexis (everyone calls her Alex), and the little girl who had the original Alex's Lemonade Stand was also named Alex.

Anyway, thoughout the course of the day, numerous people stopped to check out what we had for sale. Many also stopped for a cup of lemonade (at Alex's Alex's Lemonade Stand, as her sign said). Some didn't even take the lemonade, but merely donated money -- and these were the bargain-hunters who frequent yard sales. One family was driving by our corner stopped and donated $10 -- without ever getting out of their car OR asking for the lemonade.

It's amazing what a kid can do. The original Alex -- Alexandra Scott -- opened her stand in 2000 when she was 4 years old. She did it to raise money to help her doctors find a cure for her childhood cancer. In 2004, when Alex unfortunately passed at the age of 8, she had raised more than $1 million for childhood cancer research.

By January of this year, with the help of thousands of volunteers both young and old and the assistance of numerous Alex's Lemonade Stands, the Alex's Lemonade Stands Foundation has raised more than $10 million. (For more information, check out www.alexslemonade.org).

Now, my Alex didn't raise $1 million at our yard sale. But she worked hard to raise $73 that day for Alex's Lemonade Stand.

And us? We raised a grand total of $63 at our yard sale.

Guess who had a better day?

Good and cheap

2007-04-11T00:31:00.000-04:00

At one of my networking meetings the other day, Scott Santos from Tony and Lenny's Auto Services (free plug: www.tonyandlennys.com) had an interesting take on the auto repair business. However, since it's pretty much a universal truth, it bears repeating here:

Good is not always cheap,
and cheap is not always good.

In Scott's world, it would apply to buying brakes or oil changes or other items for your car. In our world, it would apply equally well to the promotional products business. You can get a cheap pen, but how much is it really worth if it doesn't write, or doesn't have a lot of ink, or worse yet, it leaks! (trust me, people will definitely remember your name then -- just not for the right reasons.

Remember, promotional advertising is not the best time to go cheap. Because, as Scott reminds us, cheap is not always good.

Scenes from the Cherry Hill Chamber show

2007-03-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

I had a chance to take in the annual Cherry Hill Chamber of Commerce Business Expo this past week. As always, it was a solid, well-run show with numerous companies set up at the show, trying to showcase themselves and attract business. And after all, isn't that what a Business Expo is all about?

I also went with another reason in mind. We often talk to our clients about trying to differentiate themselves. At a show such as this, it isn't always easy. With more than 100 exhibitors, it's not very easy to be different. However, after seeing what promotional items were being handed out at the booths, it's pretty obvious that not a lot of companies spent a lot of time trying to be different -- or more precisely, trying to get attention.

A very unscientific walk-through showed the following items being given away at booths:
-- Pens (19 booths)
-- unimprinted hard candy (7 booths)
-- Sticky notes/memo cubes/memo pads (3)
-- Food clips (1)
-- Stress balls/toys (3)
-- Computer screen calendars (1)
-- Mints in imprinted tins (2)
-- T-shirts (2)
-- Apples (1)

One company had an impressive display of promotional items -- tote bags, calculators, frisbees and t-shirts. I'm wondering how they figured out who got what when they were speaking to prospective customers.

What really struck me -- besides the fact that not everybody had something at their booth, were the hard candy people. We almost always advise our clients NOT to give away anything edible (one you eat it, the message is gone -- literally), but to give away something that's not even imprinted reeks of cheapness. After all, this is a business expo, not Halloween. After incurring all of the expense of joining the Chamber and setting up at the Expo, the worst possible place to try to save money is in deciding what to hand out at your booth.

If your company is participating in a show in the near future, please feel free to give us a call to arrange a no-cost, no-obligation meeting to discuss your booth activity and promotional plans.

Ready to hit the links?

2007-03-10T19:56:00.000-05:00

If you're involved in organizing a golf outing for your group or company, be prepared for one of the longest, most passionate "conversations" your organizing committee will have. It's the conversation which begins with the innocent question, "what type of give should we give the golfers?"

Corporate Logo magazine conducted a survey of recreational golfers to find out which gifts they would prefer to receive. And, to make it even more informative, it's broken down by price point:

Less than $10
Balls
Glove
Spikes
Tees
Divot Tool
Ball Marker

$10- $50
Balls
Clothes
Towel
Head Cover
Glove
Shirt Poncho
Green fee gift certificate

More than $50
Clubs
Shoes
Round of golf
Pull-over windbreaker with course logo
Driver
Shirt
Wind Jacket

Two other ideas that we spotted that are a bit more unique are:
-- A humidor that comes with six imprinted Callaway golf balls, as well as a cigar cutter
-- An all-in-one clip on "caddy", that holds a scorecard, tees, pencil and a ball dispenser.

See you on the links!

The 7 (formerly 4) P's of Marketing

2007-01-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, in a college far, far away, they taught students the four "P"s of Marketing. In no particular order, they were:
Price
Product
Placement
Promotion

All pretty self-explanatory. You have a product, determine its selling price, the proper placement for that product in stores, etc., then you promote it. And hopefully, people buy it and everyone lives happily ever after.

Not so fast.

Somewhere along the way, three extra "P"s joined in the marketing parade so now there are actually 7 P's of Marketing.

The three "new" P's are:

-- Process: What a consumer has to go through to get the product. Or, what a company has to go through to get a product to market.

-- Packaging: Millions of dollars are spent to develop eye-catching, attention-grabbing packaging that will hopefully cause a customer to pick up the product and buy it.

-- People: the feeling you get from the salesperson. Think about it -- how often you buy (or don't buy) something based on the person trying to sell it to you.

Hard to believe that marketing is even more complicated than before. Any comments?

Think about it...

2007-01-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Heard a funny line at a seminar last night, and tought I'd pass it along. I'm sure you know someone like this..

I know some people who stopped to think, and didn't start up again....

Enjoy the day!
Rich

What a girls' soccer team can teach about business

2007-01-14T22:28:00.000-05:00

I was watching my daughter's 10-and-under soccer team play last Saturday, and to say they weren't playing well would be quite an understatement. Not to say that there are any future Mia Hamm's on the team, but they were playing this game like it was their first time together. You know, when the coach starts out by saying "This is a ball. We can't use our hands." etc. etc. etc.

After watching them suffer their first defeat since Thanksgiving, it suddenly struck me. It's not that we think that the girls will win every game (although they've pretty much done that since forming in September), but we've come to expect a level of play from them. And when that level of play -- that consistency -- isn't there, the results are disappointing.

The same thing applies to business. How often do we return to do business with the same companies over and over and over again? Is it because they're the closest? The cheapest? Or maybe, just maybe, you get consistent service and quality from them. It's a comfort level that you've reached with them, for whatever reason.

Businesses spend thousands -- actually, probably millions -- of dollars a year trying to find out why consumers go to one store over another. I mean, is there really THAT much of a difference between McDonald's and Wendy's and Burger King? Probably not. And how about supermarkets? You could probably blindfold most people and they couldn't tell if they were inside a local Shop Rite or Acme (pronounced as three syllables in Philadelphia) or any other brand.

Usually, it comes down to that certain "something." Maybe the restrooms are cleaner. Maybe the lighting is better in the parking lot. Maybe it's the color scheme in the company's logo. Maybe your parents always shopped there. Whatever "it" is, the store has "it", and that makes it tough for you to change. Just like it makes us soccer parents tough to comprehend when our team doesn't play consistantly.

This is a ball. We kick the ball into the net. That's our goal.

And in business, our goal is to help you meet your goals as well. And hopefully, you like the color scheme in our logo...

The 13 best times to use ad specialties

2006-11-21T20:40:00.000-05:00

To borrow from David Letterman, we tried to compile at "top 10" list of the best times to use ad specialties. Our problem was that we couldn't stop at 10.

Or 11.

Or even 12.

So here is the Top 13 Times to Use Promotional Items. We hope that this list will help you see the value of promotional items. Happy Reading!

1. To promote the opening of just about anything ... especially things "new". A new plant. A new office. A new store. A move to a new location. Plus, a new phone number, postal code, the addition of your web site, corporate E-mail address. If your marketplace will find anything about you "new", a specialty will help you get your message across.

2. To introduce a new product or a new service. Usually such intros are so important to a corporation upper level management is deeply involved. Maybe it involves a name change, a division change or addition, new people promoted to handle this new offering. Whatever it is, those who can buy what you sell need to know about it, and remember it.

3. To motivate and inspire your team. It could be motivation of your sales team or office staff, your independent reps, your plant workers, your store folks. Within a single department or company wide. It could be at a sales meeting, an annual meeting, a company picnic. And the reason doesn't matter either. People respond to an outreach. It is not about cost - it is about value.

4. To motivate your clients and prospects. To do what it is you want them to do. To "stroke" them into action. Specialties can improve your relations, and act as a goodwill tool, too. Everyone likes to receive a gift - you'll benefit when you give one to your customers.

5. To gain new business - to open new accounts. A specialty or premium can become your offer - the incentive to at least talk with you. Everything that comes in a tube, a box, a puffy bag gets opened - guaranteed 100% of the time. You will get an audience - at least long enough to tell or share your story. And frequently the "extra" encourages a sale. At least a trial. People respond to greed - which is not a bad thing - it is a fact. Offer a "thing" or "idea", and a certain group of your prospects will become customers.

6. To create an image, to demonstrate a capability, to build awareness, to position your organization in the minds of your audience. Each an "advertising" and "public relations" goal. Which, when repeated often, can become marketing and sales agents. Specialties and premiums by definition are kept, saved, used, seen, passed along ... rarely tossed. So, you are remembered when it is time to buy.

7. To develop traffic - usually trade show or retail store traffic. People traffic - from those who are most likely to be impressed and make a buying decision in your direction. The specialty can be mailed, hand-delivered, or offered on site when your prospect or customer visits. There are many options on what to offer, and how to make your presentation. The idea is to get more people to visit. A specialty or premium will help.

8. To activate inactive accounts. Most customers become non-customers from a lack of attention. A specialty sent through the mail, with a premium on the back-end when a new order is received, gives you an opportunity to gain back what you lost. Offer a benefit "extra", and many will respond.

9. To open new doors - to get into truly new accounts, places you have not been able to crack using conventional marketing and sales methods. You undoubtedly know of business you don't have, you should have. So, reach out with a unique, different, unusual approach - something others are not doing - offer an incentive. Initially for an appointment - later for a purchase.

10. To move - SELL! - product. At any level. Retail. Wholesale. Through dealers or distributors. Direct to end-users. Or up-front with manufacturers. Your product need not be a close-out item - or it might be. It could be end of season. It could be you have something new. Or, your promotion could be in response to something your competition is doing. Doesn't matter ... if you want to move products quickly, offer a specialty or premium ... and watch the results.

11. To balance in improper product mix. Inventory control is key to profits for many companies. And the best up front controls don't always work ... as the marketplace doesn't always respond the way they did last time. Use a specialty to gain attention - use a premium to pay off the sale.

12. To introduce new people. And to reward others. Up to this point we've talked mostly about places and things. Yet, it is people who are most important. It is people who make things happen. These people who interface with your customers are most important. Make sure they each know you care - make an offer, give a reward.

13. To say "thank-you" to anyone - everyone - for any reason. At any time In any place. What you offer is a demonstration of your caring. An appreciation for a job well done. A goal met. For being a leader - or a follower. For being loyal. For walking the extra mile. Or ... for just being!

Cool ideas

2006-11-12T18:10:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, there are two common questions we get from customers.

The first goes something like, "you say you can put my name on anything. How about XXXX?" And that usually means a piece of women's underwear or somehting else within that realm (and if you're really curious, the answer is "yes, we can.").

The second question is "what do you have that's new?" Here are two of the newest, coolest things I've seen. The first is a USB flash drive that has the additional security measure of fingerprint recognition.
http://www.allinoneline.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=379
Very tech-y.....very cool.

The second is imprinted rose petals. Yes, you read that right. You can get your company name imprinted on the petals of a living (well, it was at one time anyway) rose. Think about the impression (no pun intended) that would make on a business contact. They also sell more generic roses as well, for that special person in your life.
http://www.speakingroses.com/Default.aspx

I hope these help you see the unlimited possibilities of advertising specialties. If you want more ideas or information, feel free to drop me a line at: Rich.Bradley@proforma.com

Bad Marketing 101

2006-10-31T21:49:00.000-05:00

My daughter went out trick-or-treating tonight, as did millions of other kids. One of the items she brought home confirmed that some people will stop at almost nothing to market themselves.

The item was a candy bar, which had the person's business card stapled to it. And, in case you were curious, the person was a Realtor. And this was given out at the Realtor's house, not in an office park or something like that. Uggh....

Not good. Not good at all....

Do you know someone who...?

2006-10-24T22:39:00.000-04:00

One of the wonderful things about being a small business is that you get to interact with so many other business owners. And one common thread -- aside from always looking for new business -- is that they are always will to open their rolodex to you.

Referrals are an incredibly powerful tool for building a business. It's so much easier to do business with someone when you share something in common. Think about it -- the people you like to be with (even in non-business situations) are the people who share the most in common with, whether it be your taste in music, food, drink, entertainment, humor, hobbies, etc. The key word is comfort -- you feel at your best when you're comfortable with each other.

Talking that to the business world, think about the dreaded cold call. You call someone who isn't expecting your call (or who doesn't want it in the first place). They feel annoyed and intruded upon. You have about 1.2 seconds to try to convince them to stay on the phone for another 1.2 seconds.

Compare that to a call when the person says, "Hey Rich, Bob Smith asked me to give you a call." Bang....there's a level of comfort (provided, of course, that you like Bob Smith). That level of comfort is the power of a referral.

Don't be afraid to ask somone if they know someone who can help you out....whether it's finding someone to mow your lawn, fix your car, do your taxes or design a brochure, or find jackets for your son's football team. You may just find that you'll be very comfortable doing business with them.

I would be remiss if I didn't offer you the chance to join the referral group I'm in. For more information, go to www.referralmadness.net.

Thanks for the news, Mel

2006-10-11T23:43:00.000-04:00

So Mel Gibson comes clean and tells the world that he's been sober for 65 days. Just wondering if that means in a row, or total in 2006? Hmmmmmm....

Mayonaise and coffee...yummy!

2006-09-28T21:05:00.000-04:00

This was sent to me the other day. I thought it's message was very special, so I wanted to share it with you....

WHEN IS THE JAR FULL?
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the two cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – your faith, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions –and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
The sand is everything else – the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

A worthwhile charity

2006-09-21T15:01:00.000-04:00

As you may know, sports has been an integral part of my childhood, adult and professional life. I’d like to introduce you to a local charitable organization that I’ve recently been made aware of through a contact at Temple University. The organization is called Access Sports. They’re based in Philadelphia, in the Manayunk area.

In a nutshell, Access Sports is trying to provide access to a variety of sporting events in the Delaware Valley to at-risk children and youth groups, individuals with special needs and the economically disadvantaged. Basically, they are trying to introduce the excitement and enjoyment of sports to kids who may not get a chance to see a game or event on their own.

So how can you (and I) help them? This is what they are looking for. I lifted this from their website (www.access-sports.org):
Tickets to Sports Events
Marketing/Public Relations Services
A Digital Camera
Baseball Caps with Access Sports logo
Office Supplies
Disposable Cameras
Signed Sports Memorabilia
Your Help!
Your financial donations are greatly appreciated!

If your company has tickets to a game (Phillies, Riversharks, Temple football) that you know are going to go unused, please think about calling me or Access Sports to donate them (and get a tax break). Additionally, as you can see above, all kinds of office supplies are needed. Lastly, if you want to split the costs of getting any logo’ed items made up for them with your logo on it as well, I’ll do the job at cost.

Please take a few minutes to look over their website, and consider helping them out.

What's new?

2006-09-14T22:39:00.000-04:00

"Hey Rich, what do you have that's new? I want something that's really hot; that's really gonna make my customers take notice."

It seems like everyone wants what's new, hot and different for their next promotion. But in reality, what's new usually isn't what's best for the customer. It's amazing that after a customer (or potential customer) asks a question like that, they usually end up buying one of three items -- clothing, pens or magnets. Why? Because what's new, hot and different didn't (or wouldn't) work for them. And in the world of printing and ad specialties, what you really want is something that will deliver your message in a low-cost, high-impact fashion.

As promotional products distributors, we receive literally hundreds of e-mails a week from companies showing off something new. There are shows (there are three in the Delaware Valley in September alone!) where manufacturers show off their latest and greatest. And there are always the new catalogs ("Over 500 new items this year!") to show off all kinds of interesting stuff.

So what are some of the cool, fun things available? How about a watch with a built-in flash drive? Or sunglasses with and MP3 player built in. Admittedly, both are very cool in a James Bond/Mission Impossible-type of way. But will they work for an insurance company, used car dealership or dental office? Probably not.

I received a sample of a bendable pen the other day. Kinda goofy, but it's easy to imagine the possibilities for any number of occupations -- chiropractor, accountant, physical therapist, anyone who works with children, etc. But just as important -- actually probably even important -- is the message that the pen conveys. A bendable pen that says "Jones Chiropractic" and a phone number isn't good. One that says "Jones Chiropractic -- we'll straighten you out" delivers a good message in a memorable fashion -- and isn't that what any business wants?

So the next time you're thinking about a promotional product, don't just ask what's new -- think about what works best for you.

Great quote

2006-09-08T08:39:00.000-04:00

I saw this great quote in a chat room the other day. It'a wonderful thing for all people involved in sales to keep in mind.

“There is hardly anything in the world that some man can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey.”
– John Ruskin, art and architecture critic

Have a great Friday!

What's that raised type called

2006-09-04T12:17:00.000-04:00

One of the first questions a customer must make when getting business cards printed is whether they would like them printed with "flat" or raised ink. And usually they respond with a question of their own -- "what's the difference?"

In reality and price, there's usually no difference. One is not "better" than the other, nor is one "more professional" than the other. And it's pretty much split 50-50 between business that have raised print (or "thermography") or flat cards. So how do you choose?

If you have pictures, or lots of colors, or very small print on your cards then you almost have to go with regular printing. If you have just a few colors on your card, or maybe just a logo and some type, thermography may be a viable option for you.

So what exactly, is thermography? Thermography is the process of spreading thermal powders on wet ink and heating it in order to melt the powder into a single solid mass ,which is raised above the printed surface.

If you need more information, or if your boss might drop a pop quiz on you, I'd recommend checking out this site:

http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=knowledge/article/154

In addition to business cards, thermography is also used on letterhead, envelopes and business cards. If you'd like to see samples of thermography, feel free to drop me an e-mail at: Rich.Bradley@proforma.com

That's it for now!

Freebie Fridays!

2006-09-04T12:14:00.000-04:00

We're in the process of negotiating with some of our preferred vendors to get some free stuff to give away every Friday.

We haven't decided if it'll be done through a trivia contest or picking e-mails at random, or whatever. Details, details, details...

Stay tuned!

Welcome to our blog!

2006-09-02T18:54:00.000-04:00

To help us stay better connected to you -- our friends, clients, customers and potential customers -- we've joined the World of Blogging. We intend to use this blog to pass along information about what we're doing, current promotions from suppliers, interesting news in the world of marketing, design and/or printing, as well as anything else that we think you may find interesting. We help to give you a reason to come back and visit us often, whether it's to find out what other companies may be doing, our take on the world of news, sports or movies, or to give you some "food for thought." All of this, with very few mentions of Paris Hilton!

If you have a suggestion for a topic you'd like to see addressed, please feel free to pass it along.