January 4, 2017

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Spam is one word that comes to my mind when I think of Email Marketing. Yes, a lot of emails get sent and go to the junk mail folder and never get read. That is why the message is extremely important. There are many places you can reach your prospects and customers to speak to them about your products and services and email is just one tool. Email marketing is a tool that needs patients and consistency. It is not a rabbit race that wins the email race it is the slow patient tortoise. The first most important is build a list of emails that is your target audience. One way is purchase a list. I don’t recommend that unless you are targeting a narrow audience like bicycle racers. There are plenty of people who are just into bicycles and a target list of enthusiast will give you results. The best way is through prospecting and the hard work of finding and culling the list to your product.
The next step is to use some type of email marketing software. There are several SaaS programs that will work and are very cost effective. I have used Constant Contact and Mailchimp. Both are easy and will work for 90% of the marketing campaigns business currently use.
The most important part of an email marketing campaign is the message and email content. I recommend at least once a month email to a list offers and ideas that would be of value to your customers and prospects. Professional photographs and videos are the visuals that will make the email look professional and not be judged as spam. Proforma GIS can work with customers to craft a campaign and message to drive email opening and send customers to a landing page where a direct call to action is presented to the prospect.
Starting an email campaign is not hard it will just take time and consistency. The best place to start is a list of topics that your customers feel your business brings value to them. Map out the dates and titles. Start writing content of one paragraph with keywords and value statements. Collect the assets of photos and videos, layout the emails and test.

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November 28, 2016

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Promotional product e-store.

What is a promotional products company store? It is an online store where an organization can list the preprinted promotional products for sale and distribution to outlining offices. Why would a business want to set up a company store program? There are several reasons. One is that promotional products are not being properly utilized by the sales staff. The items could be hard to get out to each team member or cutbacks have restricted the process of getting them to the key users. Promotional products are one of the best tools a sales force can use to gain and maintain business. This value added sales approach will open doors to new clients and give thanks to the steady clients. The online order entry takes the administrative task of taking orders, maintaining inventory and shipping. It gives access to the sales staff and their ability to make independent decisions about their customers and sales needs. Also it has an cost accountability trail and budget management.

To set up a company store can be simple. The first step is to identify the budget and promotional product needs. Are promotional products being used properly? Does the sales force understand how to leverage the promotions? Are your brand standards clear? Is your logo design a foundation of your mission and can it be reproduced on all types of mediums. i.e. Embroidery and one color screen printed garments in a cost effective way? The company store site could be a simple ecommerce platform or a vender like Proforma has a robust system with site and warehouse and distribution services.

Items like sales brochures trade show booths can be set up on a company store site. The management of those items might be for use of the trade show both and banners an email is sent to marketing and it is ship from the home office.

The best way to analyze if your business needs a company store is to map out the products that would be stored the usage and how many locations would be requesting these items. Also the costs you currently pay for your marketing collateral, like commercially printed brochures, signs, banners and all the printed promotional items. Catalog them with purchase history and that is your base data for the store. Set up goals and look at your brand will this program add value to growing sales?

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September 27, 2016

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Print Management

What is print management? Typically the print management definition is used to talk about in house printing or on line on demand printing. Print management can also be when an organization has several vendors and several items they print on a weekly or monthly basis. There may be several buyers within the organization that may not communicate with the other departments and could be missing out on ways to reduce the cost of acquiring their commercial printing or forms by consolidation into one supplier. Printing has evolved over many years and the use of digital copiers has shifted the cost of printing for marketing collateral to the copier. In some cases that is a good thing. In other it makes more sense to use a print provider to produce those items.

With shorter print runs the items may end up being printed on the printer in house. The things to consider when printing print collateral in house are twofold. Cost – is the run more than 100? It might be better to purchase it from a printer. Is the printed piece used to sell a product or represent your business? It might be better to have a professional printer provider to produce your collateral on a printing offset press where the bindery will be done professionally and make the printed piece have impact it was designed for.
When it comes to using printed items for selling your product or service it is representing what your comply looks like. The client will judge your ability and whether they want to do business with you based on how professional the brochure looks.

If you need someone to help with managing printed items your business needs. Proforma GIS has the background and knowledge to help you make the best decisions. Proforma GIS can also bringing graphic design, illustration, promotional products and packaging in to the mix. That will save you time and money having one trusted resource with many ideas.

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August 21, 2016

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Look to Proforma GIS for promotional product that have impact

Promotional products are a great way to get your brand in the hands of customers and prospects. It is real simple to purchase a pen and pass it out to customers at sales calls and whenever you’re on a service call. That is the most basic way of using a branded product put your logo name website and phone in front of a prospect or a client.

Looking deeper into how you can use promotional branding to stand out. In today’s busy internet and email environment prospects can be hard to reach. Promotional products reach to these prospects in ways that will make your business stand out. One way to stand out is to produce a really nice journal book and pen branded with your company name and logo. Then send it in a printed box with logo and call to action on the box. Then days later follow up with that prospect and as if they would like to meet and talk about your services.

At trade show where clients can be more accessible there are several ways to use promotional products. Yes, you should have the giveaways in the booth. But there are better ways. One is to send an email and postcard campaign in advance of the show highlighting your products and services and tell the recipient to stop by to receive free iPhone cover and a chance to win an iPad. Another way is to pay the hotel to place a promotional product in the room of every attendee. This could be very expensive and needs to be executed correctly. But this tactic will get them into the booth and get them to remember your business.

These are just a few ways to make your promotional spend get results. I recommend connecting with a supplier that will listen to your needs and has had success with helping customers grow their business and implement their ideas well and cost effectively.

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August 1, 2016

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One way to stand out in a crowded world is being different. How do you become different? You could pay an employee to stand on the coroner with billboard or dressed in a tutu. That might get you noticed, but is it professional? Not sure I would do that. But the story any publicity is good publicity leaves with people forget the bad quickly as they remember how good you are. That is where good is a great way to may your brand and business stand out. Picking a great brand to connect with is a tactic and when connected with promotional products it has a lasting connection.

A few weeks ago I talked about brands. I mentioned serval brands including Under Armour. Under Armour in the promotional product industry is selling to a select few distributors and Proforma is one. What that means is there is not every business wearing the same polo to the next convention. Corporate gifts will have meaning since it is not the same mug your competitor just dropped off. And if you want employee gifts that have impact, Under Armour is great way to say thank you and keep morale up.

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July 18, 2016

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Brand name promotional items make sense

Today there is power behind many brands. Name recognition is very important. Major brands spend millions on marketing their brand. With this power name recognition and identity aligning your brand with name brand products place your client’s view of your business much higher. It is simple, but anyone receiving a promotional product produced by a known brand will be held onto and used more often.

Apparel is one of the best products to connect your band with a major brand. There are high end brands like Nike, North Face and Under Armour that have items that are exclusive to the promotional trade. Here are some examples of stylish wearables:

Nike Golf Ladies’ Dri-Fit Pebble Texture Polo

Men’s Puma GT Crossfade Powercool Polo

Eddie Bauer (R) Ladies’ Rugged Ripstop Soft Shell Jacket

Sports/Outdoors items connect when you have a golf outing or retreat. Board retreats or team building are great times to say thank you with a memorable gift.

Leatherman

Titleist (R) NXT (R) Tour S Golf Ball

OGIO (R) Apex Rucksack

Drinkware is a great way to have you name stay in front of key prospects or a thank you gift for the key client.

Tervis Tumbler

Thermos(R) Backpack Bottle – 16 Oz

Camelbak Chute Stainless Vacuum

Office & Technology promotional products have lasting presences. Picking usable top quality items will be there in front of your best customers’ for years to come.

Cutter & Buck (R) Leather Writing Pad

Victorinox Architecture Geneva Collection Lombard Mini Laptop Messenger

Brookstone (R) Helix Bluetooth (R) Speaker

These are just a few brand name items Proforma GIS can recommend. Proforma preferred suppliers like Leeds and Bic have many items that would fit a campaign or promotion. Not to mention employee appreciation and team building events.

Keep brand name products in mind when thinking of promotional products. The quality will pay off with lasting items that will present your image stronger.

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