promotional products

Lynne Lambert, owner of Mapt Gear, has a revolutionary idea that may upend the promotional products industry. It’s kind of like anti-branding. Her company sells totes, messenger bags and a padfolio waiting for logos. However, the logos themselves are sometimes never seen on the products. Instead, she prints maps with pin illustrations to show the exact locations of companies’ headquarters (or specific locations or even event spots).

The Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and now March Madness — the sports world has been in overdrive lately. Which can mean both good and bad things for the promotional products industry. As you gear up for the annual 64-team college basketball showdown, follow these tips to avoid the mayhem and bring on promo product magic.

With a full slate of industry trade shows coming up over the next few months, it’s important to know that the time and investment you’re putting into events will be worth your while. So, sorry folks: that means late nights partying with industry friends and then sleeping through the showroom floor is probably not the best strategy.

“Hi! Um, my name is Sam and I’m just calling to see if you’re interested in [click]” Ugh! Cold calling is the worst, right? It’s an unfortunate part of business, though, one that everyone must do at some point in their careers — especially if they are trying to sell promotional products to new customers. How else do you reach people beyond the ones you already know?

The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games may be wrapping up over the next week, but for some promotional products companies, the benefits will be felt for months. This season’s competition, as is common with the games, has led to a boost in Olympics-branded merchandise sales.

In January, Laura Gomez — a content specialist with Ricoma Embroidery Machines — called out a few embroidery trends she saw in 2017 that she expects to last throughout this year: embroidery on denim, embroidered baseball caps and Instagram-ready embroidered sun hats for women.

The stage is set. You’ve greeted them with a handshake and exchanged pleasantries. Now it’s “show time”. You must win over your potential customers. As you begin, the last thing you want to do is flub your lines. And winging performances works for virtually no one.

2017 is a wrap! Now it’s time to focus on propelling your business and your clients’ companies forward into 2018. To succeed, it’s important to thoroughly evaluate the marketing landscape. You should take the time to ask, what are the top trends in promotional product marketing going to be in the new year?

‘Tis the season for gift giving! As the holidays wind down and shopping lists shorten, your customers may get stumped on what to get their clients. Advise them to never pass up the opportunity to say thank you to existing clients or even to gift competitors’ customers — more than half of companies do this!