by Kirby Hasseman
This week in Episode 111 of Delivering Marketing Joy! In this, episode Kirby interviews Paul Kiewiet and they discuss what the best of the best do in the industry.
Executive Director at MiPPA, Paul believes that certain things are magnified at a regional level. A mixture of both good and bad come to the table. One of the things that he is noticed is that the paranoia within the industry has lessened. Companies used to be very nervous about sharing information and now it’s just old hat. Everyone knows everything about everyone making the industry more transparent.he is also enjoyed watching people come together for common cause. Even companies that are competing in the same industry come together to help the community. This allows different types and qualities of leadership personalities to come together and work on a common goal. Through these experiences, people learn and grow. Not only but it also can strengthen individuals and companies from these experiences.Kirby asked Paul about what qualities he sees in successful salespeople. He stated that he believed that is in Portland for them to work on building their personal brand. This will create value for the company that they work for and their clients. They need to focus on creating value and not just selling trinkets. They need to find a problem and find a solution.it is also vital for the salesperson to understand that they are now selling an experience and not just a product, Customer service is a must. Lastly they need to be a good storyteller through a lot of different forms of media. They need to be able to understand which forms are suited to what information. Analyzing their audience and finding what types of media they respond to the best. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
This week in Episode 110 of Delivering Marketing Joy! Kirby interviewed Joe Haley and the pair discussed how to produce content comparable to a media company.Mr. Haley is a Product Editor and a Corporate Trainer at ASI. In addition to these responsibilities, he also hosts The Joe Show featured by ASI, featuring hot promo product videos to the best tips and advice. 
During this interview, Haley was questioned about the lessons he learned during his time working in the industry. Joe stated that a marketer’s job is to make people happy. In his opinion, there is never a dull moment when it comes to marketing because of all the innovative ideas that are required to keep products selling. Each marketing opportunity is completely different, which adds a wonderful amount of variety to this career. Mr. Haley shared that he hopes he thinks like a distributor by looking past products and focusing on their potential. He believes that this is the best way to find the products that will make his customers and clients happy. Don’t underestimate the appeal of a simple fix to a complicated problem. Clients will not only thank you, they will also remember your ideas and get excited when it’s time to work with you again. Joe commented that so many products exist in the industry that it’s often hard to find the perfect one for each situation. But it’s important to take your time and use your creativity to find the product that will solve the problem completely. Make sure to make that special effort to prove to the customer that you take their company and unique challenges seriously. In this video, Joe also discussed creating content for media channels. According to Joe, being true to yourself when communicating through media is more important than you think. People can easily tell when you’re just writing information down to “create content.” Joe also encouraged marketers to deliver their information in bite-sized chunks; don’t write several pages if not needed. People will be more willing to read your information and it will be easier for them to retain. And last but not least, tell good stories to make sure they have a purpose. Educate through your content. Make the readers take something away from the time they spent soaking in your media presentations. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Many businesses out there have numerous ways of recognizing employees. Some may feel conflicted on how to honor their employees. Struggling to determine the way to value team members can be very difficult. Don’t feel pressured any more. Check out the many award ideas that are offered through Hasseman by Bruce Fox. Let people hope to be a part of your company’s Honor Club. Everyone longs to be successful in their field, and will go the extra mile to earn recognition. Taking the time to set aside the best awards can help build the morale of your company’s employees. People love to display their awards because they are excited to communicate that they are the best in their particular discipline. Not only can you award your employees, but you can use these items to communicate your chosen message. People enjoy doing this during anniversaries or anytime that the goals and ideals of the company need revamped. Find inventive and interactive ways to display your mission statements and core values. Take the time to tell your story, let your clients understand how deep your ideals go. Here are some examples… The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was looking for a unique way to celebrate its 50th anniversary among its 10,000+ employees. In a dialogue with the customer, we quickly came to understand that a balance of their core values was critical to their longstanding success and growth. We created a desktop fulcrum to symbolize this cultural drive for balance. The fulcrum and accompanying lever are separate pieces, imprinted with brand elements. The individual blocks and dimensional globe are included as elements to play with and balance in any number of ways—a truly unique custom award. The result was an interactive desktop piece that perfectly symbolized the company’s fundamental principles.
Northwest Nazarene University: At over 14’ in length, this honor wall is the largest scale, single-unit custom award Hasseman has ever produced. We were involved from the outset to create, develop, and fabricate a donor recognition wall to be installed in a building that had not yet been built. This challenge afforded us the opportunity to work with the building’s architects and designers. In doing so, we were able to assimilate the same materials into the honor wall as were being used throughout the building. We were also able to coordinate the location of the display, the lighting, and the structure of the wall behind it—all the infrastructural elements literally from the ground up. This cooperative effort yielded a recognition centerpiece that will bear a legacy for the honored donors for years to come.
Victoria’s Secret & Express: Holiday sales for these retail brands represent an important portion of sales revenue and profitability, and management wanted to create an award/incentive program for store employees. Each store would recognize the top sales performer, and they sought a one-of-a-kind symbolic recognition award that could be presented to the winning associates. Taking our design cues from the iconic shopping bags, we created 8” tall replicas in colored glass. Presented in a fully-branded, satin-lined box, these custom awards were perfectly suited to the recipients’demographic.
TNT: McAfee, the well-regarded technology security provider, was conducting an internal performance program for its employees entitled “Today, Not Tomorrow.” Hasseman explored a number of notions to represent this theme, but then zeroed in on the acronym “TNT.” This quickly led our creative team down the path of a replica detonator—a fun way to convey a serious mission. The solid metal desktop piece was crafted by hand, and delivered to key employees for display as a way of promoting the theme.
Reach out to Hasseman Marketing and get help finding awards that work for you! Don’t feel lost, relax we are the experts contact us at Hasseman Marketing to get our recommendations on finding you the perfect fit. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
This week in Episode 109 of Delivering Marketing Joy! Kirby interviewed Catherine Graham CEO of commonsku. During the interview, Catherine discussed why she decided to create Skucon.
Catherine moved from a company that provides services to a product business, which she named “commonsku.” She talked about how much one is different from the other. Ms. Graham listed the lessons learned from this experience. Many things are different in the product industry, including structure, function, marketing, and the overall business.Learning the different aspects of software development was by far the trickiest. Taking the time to understand the complexity of the programs was a vital step to the transition. This preparation allowed Catherine to discover a strong connection between knowledge and success. This was the foundation to the new idea of Skucon. Skucon is commonsku’s must-attend user seminar for the promotional products industry. This seminar is full of professionals that are eager to share their hard-earned knowledge of the promotional products industry. This conference is all about education and helping others grow in their business endeavors. It is centered around entropenors and strives to be one of the best places to get current content. Catherine believes that seeing commonsku’s customers face to face is a great way to bring the community together. This resource provides a different communication style than skype. This allows them the opportunity to share their wisdom and continually getting feedback from consumers to help grow commonsku. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
It’s close to the start of another year, which means it’s time for everyone to start making fitness goals. Show your support as a business by creating an environment in which fitness goals can be achieved.
At the beginning of the program, encourage everyone who wants to take part to enter one attainable goal that they want to achieve in a three month time. Before starting, make sure you help your employees understand what a “reasonable” goal would be, which would not include trying to lose 90lbs in three months. This safeguard will ensure that they will not become depressed during their journey into health. After the goals are in place make sure you give a reward for them taking the first step, such as a water bottle, stretch bands, or other workout gear. Try to stay away from shirts at the beginning – many individuals are not happy with how they look in a tee-shirt, and might not want clothing yet. Now that the wellness program has begun, how do you challenge your employees to keep going with their fitness adventure? Set up daily goals…the key word is simple. Don’t make each day hard to follow, making individuals feel overwhelmed. One idea is to reward participants who lose the greatest percentage of body weight, as opposed to the most pounds. Alternate between lifestyle and fitness goals throughout the week. For example, have a water consumption challenge one day and a workout challenge the next. MAKE SURE to offer different levels to every challenge; chances are that nobody will start on the same fitness level. Don’t make anyone feel like a failure before they have even began.At the end of each week’s challenges, reward those who completed them all. For the week’s accomplishments, the reward could be useful, but small. At the end of the month, it might be a good incentive to offer a tee-shirt. The item should be something everyone has to work hard to receive. Make sure that you keep in mind their individualistic goals and don’t get swept away with group fitness. Have a grand prize for the winner of the health challenge when the allotted time is over. Make sure you communicate what the prize is before the challenge even begins. Recommended ideas for rewards Weekly Prizes: Don’t go big; offer something small like a nice pen, phone cushion or headband. Make sure the reward is still nice, or people will feel cheated and not want to participate. Monthly Prizes: Tee-shirts are a great idea for this…pick a theme and run with it by incorporating it in different ways with each shirt. Also, hats, water bottles and fitness gear under $20 are great ideas. Grand Prizes: Consider expensive fitness gear: bikes, kyaks…money to refresh a person’s wardrobe, a trip, spa visit, or some have even gone as far as to offer an extra week of vacation that year. Encourage everyone to find an accountability partner to help them stick to the challenges. Keep reminding people that even if they don’t win the grand prize they will still win because they have improved their life! Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
