I love being at the beach. One of my favorite things is to have a great log fire at the beach. Here’s the first rule of the beach fire: It takes many logs to have a great log fire. If one of the logs rolls out of the fire, it fizzles out and sizzles out.…
Read More
Perhaps this title grabbed your attention? Business is done through building relationships that we build through personal connections. These connections happen when being involved in our community and in our industry. They are created by being engaged with others. Relationships can be built while drinking the beverage of your choice.
Read More
If you want to become a part of your clients’ team and you want to become more than a vendor, change your approach. Quit being a salesperson and become a key employee.
Read More
In building our PPAI-award winning FreePromoTips.com program into a valuable resource for the industry, we have always made a conscious effort to keep it out of the radar of the non-industry online community. This is a program with content that specifically is focused on the promotional marketing industry.
Read More
Some of you may recall the classic characters Goofus and Gallant from Highlights Magazine for Children. As you might guess, Goofus did things wrong … and Gallant, as the name implies, was gallant and did things right.
Google released a new algorithm that punishes your site if it isn’t mobile-friendly. Sure, a mobile site is a smart idea and you should have one. However, it is not urgent for most of you. Here are three reasons the hype is not going to match up the reality for most promotional products companies (as well as a few other companies).
Read More
Our evolving industry business model continues to be a hot topic. Recently I started wondering how an online purchasing mentality, I’ll call the Amazon click-to-buy world, affects our industry. It begs the question, are we (aka distributors) really needed? It’s getting easier and easier for end-users to buy online or direct from suppliers.
Read More
Every year more and more products are being introduced into the market, and after a while it all looks the same. What if a program was developed that helped generate a true (ROI) return on a trade show investment? During my tenure as a promotional products consultant, I was absolutely amazed at how ineffective most marketing managers were at effectively managing the results of their trade shows.
Read More
Good communication leads to good relationships, and good relationships are good for business. This applies to both our personal and professional lives.
Read More
Today, we’re going to look at something very small, but also very important. It’s unseen by many, lurking in the shadows. If left alone, it will mushroom and infiltrate communication channels everywhere. Like a virus, it is contagious. For those who recognize its quiet fury, there is a look of sorrow and shaking of the head. No hazmat suit can protect us, however, a dictionary can.
Read More