Simply Smashing Highlights New Items
Read MoreSimply Smashing Highlights New Items
Chocolate Inn Reveals New Products And Packaging
Chocolate Inn Reveals New Products And Packaging
Read MoreFOR THE HOME TEAM
BRANDING’S OMNIPRESENCE IS a sign of modern times. Advertising itself has been around for many thousands of years. From Roman coins featuring the faces of emperors and generals to waterfalls and colonies named for the British monarchy, branding has played an influential role throughout history. Still, no era has rivaled the extent and scope of the power marketing has on current society. Today, all of the catchy slogans and flashy logos can sometimes run together in the mind of the consumer. But everyone recognizes sports team logos and sports brands. Sports have the ability to thrill a consumer like no other line of brands. Nobody
Read MoreOFFICE SPACE
FOR MANY AMERICANS, work and personal life have become indistinguishable. Living according to the business motto, “it’s who you know,” has blended friends and colleagues together. Perhaps the biggest changes are the result of technology. Wireless communications enable people to work on the road or in a café just as easily as if they were in the office. All the needed resources and capabilities of modern working society now fit into a briefcase. Working from home is increasingly popular for employees of major corporations as well as for small business owners and the self-employed. Office and desk items are changing to keep up with the times.
Read MoreStamp of Approval
ONE CAN NEVER know too much about apparel printing. Consider this: Two stacks of T-shirts folded side by side on the shelves of a trendy retailer. Pricing is similar. One stack is comprised of non-descript, white tees, while the other features shirts with members of a popular band, a funny saying or an intricate design splashed across their surface. Unless the consumer is in the market for a non-descript, white tee, he or she would likely purchase one from the neighboring stack. These days, consumers are looking for garments that pop—that say something. Apparel printing plays as important a role in customer satisfaction as
Read More2007 Supplier Excellence Awards
LOYALTY HOLDS POWERFUL sway over many people’s actions. It is difficult to settle for good when the best is just a little further. Loyalty will see the extra mile traveled, the extra call made and the extra cost paid. Often, it is a result of superior quality or superior service, while other times familiarity can be held accountable, and yet other people will have a simple affection toward a brand. This is the dream of any corporation: To be known of not as a source, but as the definitive source for a commodity. Promotional Marketing’s 2007 Supplier Excellence Awards recognize the best in more
Read MoreThe myth of great relationships
THE WORLD IS full of salespeople who claim, quite proudly, to have great relationships with their customers. If that were true, it really would be great. But unfortunately, the term “great relationships” is too often a veil that salespeople hide behind to keep from exposing their sales skills weaknesses. Here’s how it works. An experienced salesperson believes that he or she has developed great relationships with customers. Therefore, he spends his time visiting these great customers, and focusing on maintaining the relationship. He can’t really dig deeper into the motivations and needs of the customer because he’s never really had those conversations before, and to
Read MoreTips of the Trade: Are Your Proposals Too Generic?
By Ilise Benun, marketing mentor Would this be an accurate description of the proposals you write: “Fluff in the front and back with a tidbit about the project sandwiched in between.” If so, maybe that’s why they end up in a black hole. You need a template, of course, for material that applies to many prospects. But the key to an effective proposal is customizing each one so that your prospects can tell that you really took time to think through their situation. As on a Web site, the first thing they see should be all about them: what you understand their challenge
Read MoreImproved Rebate Program to Replace Long-Running Norwood Rewards
Norwood Promotional Products, Indianapolis, will replace its points-for-purchase program (Norwood Rewards) with an improved rebate program. Norwood has earmarked the funds used to operate its Rewards program for an expanded 2008 Distributor Volume Rebate Program. Distributor principals will be contacted directly with details about the new rebate program. Norwood Rewards was launched in 2003 with the intent of creating a positive incentive for distributor salespeople to sell Norwood products. The program, however, has generated some concerns from distributor principals. “We’re committed to honoring the supplier-distributor principal relationship,” noted Paul Lage, Norwood president. “[Norwood Rewards] is perceived to be in conflict with that relationship and we want
Read MoreCutter & Buck Rolls Out First Dedicated Fall Corporate Offering
Cutter & Buck, Seattle, recently introduced the expansion of its corporate offering for Fall 2007, with the latest technical applications from its CB ProTec family of apparel, including CB DryTec and CB WeatherTec. The Fall 2007 offering marks the first time Cutter & Buck has taken a two-season approach to the corporate wearables market. Silhouettes in Fall’s latest hues will be prevalent, including long-sleeve knits, wovens and outerwear. “We’re continually evolving our product line to meet the diverse needs of both customers and their end-users by providing compelling new technical benefits, as well as highest level of quality and product diversity,” said
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