by Kirby Hasseman
We have a fun business. That’s why we say we “Deliver Marketing Joy.” When you receive something from us (if we get it right) you get a little piece of Christmas morning. We hear stories of teams gathering around a box to see the latest goodies that have arrived. That is so cool. We do fun stuff. As I have heard PPAI’s Paul Bellantone say, “It’s the only kind of marketing that your clients actually thank you for!” One of our challenges, however, is the diverse range of products and services we do offer. Being in this business, it’s easy to get pigeon-holed. We can become the “t-shirt guy” or the “pen gal,” or “weird guy who sells calendars.” Titles can be tough. 🙂 With approximately a million products to showcase, it’s hard to let our clients know ALL the things we offer. So how about a test? Did you know? Here are a few product categories where we shine. Custom Awards: A great way to make employees and team members feel appreciated is with a custom award program. Yes…we do that. We even helped one of our clients create a really cool award program for their top customers. Read more here. Regardless of who you want to recognize, a cool custom award could be the perfect way to leave an impression. Print: From flyers to calendars to business cards, we work to be a one-stop marketing solution. And with a full time graphic designer, we can help you look good! I mean, we know you look good, but we can help translate that to paper! Signage: One of the reasons I love our Trade show is that it gives people a chance to see this up close. We have a full selection of trade show displays, banners and so much more. Oh…and that design capability is super important here too. Food Gifts: This is a great time of year to talk about this! During the holiday season, food gifts are a great item for offices. Not only is it personal, but it’s shareable. And though you might normally think of the local grocery store (they are great) or a big box store (not so great at this), we can be a great option for personalized food gifts during the holidays. And those are just a few things you might not have known we offered. It’s not your fault! It’s hard to keep track. Make sure you never miss an update, or a product category! Sign up for our VIP newsletter. How does it work? We gather all of the content we create and send one email per week to catch you up! Sign up below.
by Kirby Hasseman
Tell me if this sounds familiar to you. You invest the time and money to attend an educational event in your industry. You struggle to get all of your work done in advance, so you can “really focus” while you are there. (With me so far?) Great news! You attend the event and it really speaks to you! You leave the conference fired up. You are committed to making real change in your office…and in your business. You head back to the office…and…nothing. Either you can’t convince your team, or you can’t convince your boss, or you can’t focus. Whatever. The amazing and inspiring plans you have fade away…into the whirlwind of your day to day. Sound familiar? Yeah. Me too. I had this happen enough times. So I came up with a few strategies to get more ideas implemented in my business. Here are a few thoughts… One Big Idea: I recently attended an event called Skucamp (I talk about that here) and my head was swimming. It was almost too much! So I decided that I needed to settle on just one idea that I could implement. I made a list so I could move on after I knocked #1 off the list. But my goal was to start with just one idea. That helped me not be overwhelmed and focus. Take an Extra Day: My wife and I attended an event called an EME. It’s like speed-dating for business. We had approximately 48 (20 minute) meetings, one after another. The event takes 2.5 days and you leave completely exhausted. It’s truly like drinking from a firehose. Amy and I had done the events before, and the results were okay. Then one year we decided to take an extra day. We sat around the pool and discussed all our notes from the previous three days. It was amazingly productive and we left with a plan. It was a total game changer for that event for us. Keep the Journal Book: Many events you attend will give you some sort of custom journal book for taking notes at the event. I love these. And in order to keep the “mojo” going after the event, I keep using it. It helps me to reconnect to the event mentally, and gives me quick access to the notes I took. Those are just a few ideas for getting back into the swing of things after a big event. What are yours? Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP newsletter by signing up below!
by Kirby Hasseman
I am a big fan of Seth Godin. There are a ton of reasons why. He is an original thinker. He is a great author. He is a consistent content creator (I talk about his unreasonable blog here). But I also find that I love Seth’s work because he says things that I want to share. For years, he has written something on his blog and I read it and say “yes!” I feel compelled to share it with everyone…or at least people I care about. I had that experience yesterday. I was on a run and was listening to Seth’s podcast called Akimbo. This episode, called “You’re it” is on “getting picked. You see, in the past, the only way (or at least the best way) to succeed was to be picked. You submitted your book, you auditioned, you hoped and you prayed. But the success of your project or your career was ultimately in the hands of someone else. Someone else had to decide. Today it’s different. As Seth so eloquently points out in this podcast, the internet changed everything. You can publish that book on your own. You can share your idea. You can start your own comedy troop. You don’t have to wait for someone else to choose. You get to choose. So as you start today, it’s time to decide. Are you going to wait to see if someone chooses you? Or are you going to take the leap? Are you going to put in the work? It’s scary. Because if it doesn’t work, there is no one else to blame. But it can’t work if you don’t try. Like Seth, I hope you will try. Oh…and one more shot…you can listen here. Make sure you never miss an update! Each week we send out an email with all of the content we have created in one place! You can sign up below.
by Kirby Hasseman
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer. Have you ever noticed that what you put your attention on grows? It’s true. When you put your focus and time and attention on a specific thing, it tends to show up everywhere. There is plenty of science to back it up. But great thinkers have been telling us this for years. From Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) to Wayne Dyer to Stephen Covey, all of them have told us that what we focus on, we get. Wayne Dyer says it like this, “What you really, really want in life, you tend to get. And what you really, really DON’T want in life, you also tend to get.” Both of them have your concentrated attention. “Once you realize that what you think about expands in your life, you get really careful about what you think about!” Part of it is simply us telling our subconscious brains what is important. For example, you find exactly the new car you want. You take it home, thinking it’s a one of a kind. Then you start to see it (or ones just like it) everywhere! Why? Because your brain knows this car is important…so it points it out. The same is true in your relationships. If you constantly focus on the things you don’t like in your relationships…they will continue to expand. Stephen Covey talks about this in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He tells a husband to stop fixating on the things he doesn’t like in his spouse. Instead, start focusing on the things you love…and then they will expand. In his book “Becoming Supernatural,” Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about this in great detail. He says that most of us spend most of our time and attention (especially the very first part of our day) thinking and stressing and worrying about the past. So those past stresses and worries show up more and more. Is it any wonder that most people live the same day of their lives over and over? So what can we do? How do we break the routine? Let’s take the time to be intentional. Let’s make a mental change on what we put our time and attention on. Instead of focusing (all the time) on what stresses us, what worries us, or what annoys us, let’s spend some time thinking about the opposite. Today let’s think about: What are we grateful for? What excited us? What do we love about our life? What is it that we want to create? How can we be generous and make a difference? If what we think about expands in our life, let’s be intentional about what we focus on. Let’s work to create a life that we want to live! Make sure you never miss an update! It’s a great time to sign up for our VIP newsletter. We send out one email per week with all of the content we create in one place! Sign up today!
by Kirby Hasseman
We have been doing it a long time. But there are always lessons to learn. Each year, at Hasseman Marketing, we invite some of our best supplier partners to join us to create our Annual Trade Show. The goal is to provide a fun environment for our customers and prospects to check out the latest and greatest branded merchandise and marketing services our company has to offer. And of course, we want to have fun doing it! You can even see a behind the scenes “Day in the Life” video I shot during the day here.
And with any event like this, there are chances to learn. What makes the event work? What can we do better? The Right Partners are Key: In business, the word partnership is thrown around a lot. Most of the time, we want partnerships when it is in our favor. But for an event like this happen (and to create a long term business success) you need real partnerships. The suppliers (and multi-line reps) we have at our event travel from all over the country to invest their time in our business. It’s awesome. And of course, they do a great job showcasing their lines to our customers as well. Hard To Make It Look Easy: If you watched the video above, you might have thought, “Well that didn’t look too bad.” Though the event is a lot of work, the team works hard to make it happen. One person that spends a ton of time behind the scenes is my lovely bride. Amy spends countless hours getting things ready. It’s not just the decorations you see. It’s the pasta salad she is making at 10pm. It’s the details that would simply not get done without here. It’s a thankless job…so it’s worth a small “thank you” here. It’s Important to Keep Trying For Better: Though it felt like the show went well this year, it’s important to keep trying to improve. We will be meeting Monday to discuss what worked…and what did not. (So if you were there and have suggestions, let us know). The best things in life continually evolve…and we want to do the same. We love the opportunity to get together with our suppliers and customers each year. It’s a lot of work. But it’s a lot of fun too. Make sure you never miss an update (or an announcement about an event like this). Sign up for our VIP newsletter below. We send out one email per week to catch you up on the content activity at Hasseman Marketing!
