I’m going to level with all of you. A few years ago, I did not know the first thing about…
Read MoreWe Are the Champions
Tag: Industry
When I Say ‘Swag,’ People Smile
I just attended a conference (outside the promotional products industry) where I had the chance to speak to business leaders from information technology, sales and marketing. In several roundtables, and of course over cocktails, people would ask what my company does. With some I said, “We sell promotional products, items with logos, such as the…
Read MoreWhat Can We Learn from The Artist Formerly Known as Prince?
Since I recently wrote a commentary titled ‘Are You Too Old To Rock,’ I thought I would share another thought from the world of music.
Read MoreLet’s Drink to Success
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 MoreAre You Too Old to Rock?
I love music. From the days of 4-track and 8-track tapes, music has played a key role throughout my life. For those of you who wonder what those are, I have added Wikipedia reference links.
Read MoreWhat Makes Our Industry Great?
I’ve been traveling lately and have a few more trips coming in the next month. Travel can be grueling, but it is how business gets done. The personal relationships that are nurtured in face-to-face meetings are just one of the things that make our industry great.
Read MoreWhy Is This Important?
I see the industry from many sides, both in my role as publisher of the PPAI-award winning FreePromoTips.com and as a distributor. My perspective is different from most, and that enables me to publish content that is of interest to our industry.
Read MoreThe Real Reason Industry E-commerce Firms are Growing Faster Than You
By now you have heard the fact that overall industry firms grew at 1 percent, while industry online firms grew at 33 percent. According to PPAI research, “The proportion of online sales compared to total sales in the industry increased by 4 percentage points from 13.6 percent in 2013 to 17.9 percent in 2014.” Wait, you have valuable relationships and great service, yet overall online firms are growing faster than traditional firms? Why is that?
Read MoreColliding Worlds: Does This Scare You?
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 MoreWhat Do You and Your Company Represent?
I’ve recently had a revelation. For many years, I have worked to build up a significant online presence for my PPAI-award winning, content-driven program, FreePromoTips.com. Our industry database for our e-newsletter is 50,000 and we have a strong social media reach. I’ve shared about this before, but that isn’t the point of this commentary.
Read More