The client could hardly believe what Steven Flaughers was telling her.
Flaughers, the owner/president of Ohio-based Proforma 3rd Degree Marketing (asi/490897), an affiliate of Counselor Top 40 distributor Proforma (asi/300094), was explaining that he could provide soup-to-nuts print and promotional products solutions for the nationwide education convention her organization was putting on.
Flaughers had been proactive, having arranged a time to explain everything he could bring to the table to help the buyer. And as Flaughers unfolded the tapestry of solutions, stress lines visibly began to fade from the client’s face.
Now, she realized, she could get print products like signs, banners, pre- and post-show mailers, session notes and session handbooks along with promo items like branded totes, logoed apparel and gifts for speakers – all from one trusted partner.
The order turned into a welcomed windfall for Flaughers, the project amounting to nearly $90,000 in revenue. The success didn’t stop there.
“The referrals after the show really made a huge difference,” he shares. “Many people asked my contact who she used. It was a project that just kept giving.”
While not every order combining print and promo is going to be a near six-figure slam dunk, Flaughers’ case study highlights an important fact: Distributors capable of providing print and promo solutions can be more valuable partners to clients than distributors that just do one or the other. That value can translate directly to sizable gains in sales for the multifaceted firms – on both individual campaigns, as in Flaughers’ case, and over the course of relationships with clients.
“Tapping into the promo industry offers massive growth potential,” says Michael O’Neal, an executive who is spearheading the expansion of Counselor Top 40 promo distributor BAMKO’s (asi/131431) commercial print business.
Still, for print distributors, the world of promo can feel like a vast uncharted territory – an intimidating unknown land. But as print professionals that offer promo can attest, branching out into branded merchandise doesn’t have to be scary. Sure, it requires dedicated work, but it’s well within print pros’ reach. “With the right support and a proactive, strategic approach, you can significantly expand your business with existing clients and enter into new markets,” O’Neal maintains.
Here are five strategies to help set printers up for promo success.
1. Don’t Panic: You Know More Than You Think
Industry veterans like Flaughers and O’Neal believe that print pros have a leg up when it comes to learning promo. That’s because printers already possess knowledge that crosses over into the space of branded apparel and hard goods.
“As a print professional, your expertise in areas like print-on-demand and understanding of material properties will be invaluable in promo,” O’Neal asserts.
Flaughers holds a similar view, saying that print pros should take confidence in that they’re not starting from ground zero when it comes to selling swag.
“For instance,” says Flaughers, “print pros understand colors, ink, PMS, SPOT and digital right out of the gate. Print folks will know registrations as well. It’s a good base from which to start.”
2. Understand Promo’s Scope & Complementary Potential
Of course, it’s important not to oversimplify things. There’s still a learning curve. As such, an intelligent first step is to establish a foundational understanding of the promotional products industry.
Research from the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) shows that distributors’ collective North American promotional products sales in 2023 were $26.1 billion – an annual record for the industry. While the final tally for 2024 wasn’t in as of press time, promo distributors were on track to set another full-year highwater mark, according to ASI, the largest technology, marketing, events and information provider in the promo industry.
The annual revenue figure in ASI’s research includes sales of everything from branded apparel and soft goods – T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, fleeces, polo shirts, headwear, tote bags, backpacks and more – to what the industry commonly calls “hard goods,” which encompass categories like drinkware, writing instruments, housewares, technology items, awards and desk/business accessories among others. In terms of revenue, T-shirts, drinkware, polo shirts, headwear and bags are the biggest sellers, ASI Research shows.
Promo pros sell these and other products into a wide range of end-client industries. The markets in which promo distributors generate the most sales are, in order, education, healthcare, construction, manufacturing/distribution, financial/insurance, retail and nonprofit.
And of course, all of those markets have print needs, too. Just ask Allen Landis, who owns Lancaster, PA-based franchises associated with Signarama and Fully Promoted (asi/384000), the latter firm being a Counselor Top 40 promo distributor.
Landis does considerable business with small- to medium-sized construction companies. Clients rely on him and his team for both their print/signage and promo needs.
Interestingly, the promo side of the business feeds him print work, and vice versa. For instance, Landis’ Fully Promoted firm began a business relationship with a construction company by executing a small decorated-apparel order. More business followed, and along the way Landis brought up that he does signs, too.
“Since we already had the relationship with them, they were open to working with us for their signage needs, and the next thing you know we were doing their new building sign and wrapping their vehicles,” Landis says. “It’s turned into tens of thousands of dollars in business.”
The cross-medium complementary sales go the other way too – with print relationships leading to promo work.
Landis’ Signarama business counted a restoration company as a client, providing vehicle wraps for the business. After the client learned Landis could fulfill promo requests too, they came to him with a rush job when their normal promo vendor couldn’t meet a deadline.
Working some sourcing magic, Landis and his team produced the branded mini-tape measures the client required in a pinch, thereby winning deeper loyalty.
“We do all their signage for them and have continued to get promo orders too, including for drinkware,” Landis shares.
While certain sectors like education may be promo’s bread and butter, it’s important to note that many promo distributors achieve ample success selling into niche markets, too. These run the gamut, everything from beauty brands and start-up software firms to online influencers, specialty manufacturers and many more. Things can get highly specialized. Flaughers, for example, has members of the Amish community on his customer roster.
“It’s a very interesting market and one I enjoy working with,” says Flaughers, who provides such clients with printing products, too. “It really shows opportunity is everywhere when you can deliver on a client’s printing and promo needs.”
3. Get a Grasp on the Merch Market’s Supply Chain
If you’re a printer keen to sell promo products, this may come as a surprise: You don’t have to invest in new printing equipment to get started. You can, for instance, buy embroidery machines or screen-printing presses to decorate apparel if you wish to control more production in-house but it’s not a necessity.
Why? Because of how promo’s supply chain is set up.
While some promo distributors certainly have in-house decoration capabilities, many in the market do not. Instead, they focus their attention on being front-line sellers, developing relationships with end-clients who need promotional products.
These distributors then source the merch items end-clients need from suppliers – the industry participants that produce/manufacture collections of products. Some suppliers, particularly when it comes to hard goods, will decorate those products, too. In other cases, more so when it comes to apparel, the distributor will have the supplier send the ordered items to a decorator, who then applies branding, graphics and messaging as instructed.
If desired, printers entering promo can take a similar approach to sourcing swag.
“Find the suppliers you feel most comfortable working with, in terms of quality, customer service and pricing,” says Kevin Homer, partner at The Homer Group (asi/226343), a Pennsylvania-based distributor that services clients with print and promo. “You might also want to find specific products to offer.”
Still, Homer and other industry pros admit pinpointing great suppliers and products is a bit easier said than done for those just starting out.
“Sourcing promo can feel a little daunting when you have your 30,000 feet glasses on because there are so many products from thousands of vendors,” admits Stacey Wilks, resource and procurement specialist with Missouri-headquartered Executive Print & Promo (asi/490072).
4. Build Product Knowledge & Identify Supplier Partners
Fortunately, Wilks and other dual print/promo specialists say there are a variety of ways for print distributors to begin developing a strong promo sourcing chain to support their swag selling efforts.
A great jumping off point is to attend a leading promo industry trade show, where a broad spectrum of suppliers will be exhibiting a comprehensive selection of products.
The boots-on-the-ground approach enables promo novices to see firsthand the cornucopia of products available and which companies carry what – an empowering orientation. For sure, printers can get conversations going with suppliers and even meet promo distributors from outside their immediate locale, some of whom may be willing to offer advice – a good turn that happens with regularity in what’s still a relatively collegial industry.
“The more I’ve taken advantage of industry events and developed relationships with other distributors that I’m not in a competitive situation with, the more success I’ve been able to have with promo,” says Ed Gibson, president of Gibson Print Source, a printing-first company that generates roughly a fifth of its business through promo sales.
Additionally, consider joining an industry association that offers business-building supports, including product sourcing tools. While not the only provider in promo, ASI offers ESP and ESP+, promo business management platforms that include searchable, continuously updated databases of suppliers and their products from across the North American promo market.
Industry sourcing tools such as ESP enable distributors to rate suppliers, which can be helpful in identifying potential quality partners, notes Wilks. “Pay attention to how the vendors are rated by other distributors,” she advises.
Also, both industry associations and certain suppliers offer education in the form of articles, videos, blogs, podcasts and webinars that aim to help promo distributors be successful.
To wit, Counselor Top 40 firm SanMar (asi/84863), the largest supplier in promo, provides SanMar U – an online education destination that aims to put promo products expertise at distributors’ fingertips. Take advantage of such resources to level up your merch knowledge, print and promo pros advise.
Furthermore, leverage the expertise of suppliers in one-on-one settings. Reps who work for promo suppliers achieve their objectives by helping distributors become more successful selling the supplier’s line of products. They’re a ready-made resource for collaboration. Distributors, especially those just starting with swag, should seek the guidance of vendor reps.
“You can tell them about promo opportunities you may have and ask for advice,” says Flaughers. “Have them hold your hand, baby step you through it. You can say, ‘Hey, I need 100 mugs. Here’s the client’s logo. How do you feel it will print best?’”
Other options for getting your promo ball rolling can include joining promotional products distributor buying groups (though they might require you to have an established book of business) and/or affiliating with a franchiser or larger promo distributor that will provide access to education, back-end services and a preferred supplier sourcing network. “Support from the franchises and our key vendors have been key to our success,” says Landis, of Signarama and Fully Promoted.
“When it comes to promo, embrace the learning curve,” adds O’Neal. “Attend industry events, connect with promo veterans and dive into trade publications to absorb as much knowledge as possible.”
5. Serve Promo Clients as a Consultative Seller
The merch knowledge-bulking and strong vendor network will increase your capacity to serve as a promo consultant to clients. And no doubt, top-performing swag sales pros agree that being a value-adding partner to customer’s efforts related to marketing, human resources and other initiatives is vital to scoring branded merch success.
Beyond cultivating product/decorating knowledge, being a consultative pro requires distributors to understand the client’s business, the goals of each particular promo campaign and the audience the customer is targeting.
“Dial down to what your customer wants before you go sourcing product,” advises Wilks. “Find out how much they want to spend, how many they need, color preferences and keep in mind what business they are in. You probably won’t sell trucker caps to a law office – or $60 polos to a small automotive repair company. When you ask a lot of questions up front, the customer will appreciate it in the end when you send over a proposal that has exactly what they didn’t even know they needed.”
The Homer Group implements the consultative strategy with clients, including those for whom it provides print and promo products for trade shows. In every instance, the distributor strives to understand the client’s industry, lead generation strategy and intended recipients to determine appropriate promo giveaways for the events.
“A high-traffic booth giving away products to every booth visitor is going to require a larger volume of items at a lower unit cost, whereas a premium giveaway for either a selective list or a contest winner will typically come at a higher price point and offer a different type of utility,” explains Kevin Homer, partner at the firm. “It’s important to understand all of the criteria before assisting customers with determining what will be the best promotional products for them.”
Gibson shares one final word of advice: Take a breath. You don’t have to learn promo in a day. Just keep deepening your knowledge and expertise, and continue to put each client’s particular needs at the center of your focus on every order. “Pace yourself,” says Gibson, “and grow into it.”
A Many-Miled Success Story
When it came to the trucking company, Executive Print & Promo (asi/490072) was in it for the long haul.
The Missouri-based print and promo company began serving the client decades ago, providing continuous feed checks, business forms and company stationary. As the trucking firm expanded, evolving to now have more than a couple dozen locations, Executive Print & Promo grew with the business, delivering an array of printing and branded merchandise solutions through a tech-enabled ordering platform.
“We began providing a website where each location could order their own items,” explains Stacey Wilks, resource and procurement specialist with Executive Print & Promo. “There’s print, apparel and promotional items, all of which can be ordered through us, which has helped maintain the integrity of the brand.”
Relatedly, every year Executive Print & Promo orchestrates a special program for the client during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. “We bring in 8 to 10 different print, promo and apparel items, sort them out, pack them up and ship them to each location so they can celebrate,” Wilks shares.
Executive Print & Promo’s long-standing relationship with the client is indicative of the ongoing success industry firms can achieve by being a reliable partner that’s capable of delivering print and promo necessities.
“When you come right down to it, in our business, it’s all print – whether it’s flyers, envelopes and business cards or pens, mugs and T-shirts,” says Wilks. “Every client needs print, promo and corporate apparel. We use that as a selling point. You save customers so much time by being a one-stop shop.”
