But one simple truth (or advice) from this friend.
If you want to order gifts, don’t wait for this year to end.
So click an email, send a text, pick up the phone, or go online to shop.
But let’s take care of our customers and teams and hope this madness will stop!
This little poem I am calling “The Nightmare on Merch Street” is just a light hearted attempt to share some important information. As we said in this blog, this year has been a tough one. We need to show our appreciation more than ever. But it’s a tough time to do it…that’s for sure. So if you are planning to order your appreciation gifts, this is NOT the year to wait to the last minute. Otherwise, you might be facing your own Nightmare on Merch Street!
It’s important for our lives to be based in truth. If we want to be effective, productive and happy, it’s important for us to operate as things are…not how we want them to be. That’s why I wrote this blog discussing “now that we are here.” With that in mind, I want to give you 3 Facts about Corporate Gift Giving in 2020.
It’s More Important Than Ever
We are unapologetic fans of showing appreciation. Of course we are. It’s the business we are in. But we also believe there is an appreciation gap in business today. We talk about that here. But this year, we are asking employees to work more with less. Some team members have been laid off. Others have taken on more responsibilities. It’s what we have had to do to survive. At the very least, we are all working in an incredibly uncertain and stressful time. We need to show them how much that means to us. And for customers that is doubly true. These are our truest supporters that have continued to do business with us…and we need to make sure they know how much we appreciate it.
It’s Harder Than Ever
But here’s the thing, while it’s more important than ever, the fact is it’s harder. Many people are still working from home. We can’t do the traditional holiday events or parties. Even if we can, these events will look small or different to say the least. If we want to give our team a gift, we have to create new ways to deliver them and make them fun. It’s a real challenge. There is no getting around it. (With this challenge in mind, we created this site to help).
It’s Important To Order Early
While we are always a fan of planning in advance, this year it’s a must. As an industry, we are starting to see challenges with delivery times for many orders. Because we HAVE to ship to more and different locations, it’s become a challenge for delivery. As a matter of fact, UPS and Fed Ex have already acknowledged it’s going to be an issue.
In addition, the stock of many items across our industry has been a huge challenge as well. Why? Because when the pandemic began, all business in many (if not most) industries stopped. The promotional products industry was no different. So suppliers shut off orders from overseas to manage space and cash flow. When the economy started to open back up, many suppliers took conservative bets on what to order in. It’s a smart move. But it has created stock challenges on some items. What does that mean to you? It means the item you are in love with for you team might be out of stock. You either need to order before it is…or get ready to change to a new item quickly so you can still show that appreciation that is more important than ever!
So those are 3 Facts about Corporate Giving in 2020. They are realities we all need to deal with. Please be patient as we help you try and navigate these strange waters with you. Again, if you are interested in seeing a solution to delivering the gifts, check out this site we have created. Everything on the site is “all in.” It includes the price of the items, imprinting, setup fees, and shipping to your team member or customers door…all in.
I was sitting at my desk, with the feet up, listening to Mike Michalowicz speaking at a recent Commonsku at Home event. Mike is one of my favorite speakers, thought leaders and authors in the business space. He has written several must read business books including The Pumpkin Plan and Profit First. When he said he is working on a new book about marketing, he had my attention. It was then that he told us about the most powerful word in marketing.
Mike’s new book (still in production) will be called Different is Better. The concept is simple. When there are thousands of options in nearly every business space, how do you stand out? It’s not just about being better (though that is great). It’s about being different. You must do something to differentiate in the customers mind.
Simple right? As we know, simple is not the same as easy.
While I am excited to dig into the book and try many of the tactics Mike discussed, there was one thing that caught my attention. One way to stand out in a sea of competitors is to use the most powerful word in marketing. What is that magic word? What simple word can you put on a piece of marketing that will wildly increase the likelihood that your customer will not only read the piece, but maybe also KEEP it? Let me give you the word…
It’s your customer’s name.
As Mike suggested, we are all attracted to our own name. If we are in a conversation with someone in a crowded room, and someone mentions our name, it will break through the noise. We will hear it. Our name is special to us. It gets our attention. It makes our customer feel important…because they are! If you want a simple way to make your marketing more effective, personalize it. It’s the marketing equivalent of listening to Beyonce and “putting a ring on it.”
The implications of this are simple and powerful. If you are going to create a direct mail piece, you are more likely to get it opened if it actually says the customer or prospect’s name rather than “current resident.” And if you are created a piece of branded merchandise to say thank you to your customers (and you should), what if you personalized that as well? If you create a vacuum tumbler with your logo on it, how much more would it mean if each customer, team member and board member had their own name on it? The effect will be powerful.
And as a side note during this pandemic, it’s safer. If each person has their own tumbler (or other branded piece), then there is a much lower chance of someone drinking out of the wrong tumbler and getting sick.
So now that we are in appreciation season, consider using the most powerful word in marketing to increase the value of your branded gift. Use your customer’s name and personalize your gift for even more affect!
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The fact is, each business owner and marketer have very difficult choices to make when deciding how to market their business. No one I know, or have ever worked with, has unlimited budgets and resources. So you have to be smart and do your best to get the most “bang” for your advertising buck! We all do!
So let’s discuss the best use of YOUR advertising dollars.
How? I want to do this by comparing Promotional Products to other forms of advertising. But before I do, I want to point out my intentions.
It is NOT my intention to take shots at other forms of media. There is a time and a place for all of these advertising forms. But it is imperative that you understand that Promotional Products should be in your mix.
There are lots of different forms of advertising in the world today. Some of these include TV ads, Print Ads, Radio Ads, Online Ads and many more. One of the common themes with all of these is they are Interruption based ad models. In other words, the advertiser is consuming some form of media and the advertiser needs to interrupt that consumption so they can promote their organization, company or product.
This is the model that has been used for hundreds of years. Philosophically, I think Promotional products are different. With the use of Promo, you are providing value on the front end (with lasting impact) in order to gain customers long term. You probably already know this. You might be asking, “What is new?”
So first let’s establish how marketing and advertising effectiveness is measured.
I have talked before about the “3 R’s” of a successful business. I told you that every business wants “Repeats, Retention and Referrals.” These “3 R’s” are sure to create a long term successful business. It turns out that the best way to measure advertising effectiveness also includes 3 R’s.
These 3 R’s are Reach, Recall and Reaction!
Reach, Recall and Reaction
These 3 R’s of advertising are very important to consider. But in my humble opinion, not all R’s are created equal!
Reach
How many people do you reach? Obviously this is important…right? Sure it is. You want to reach as many people as you can for the amount of money you spend. The problem with this “R” is that it can be manipulated. Some advertising sales people will point out that 100,000 have access to this channel, or read this paper, or drive by this sign every day!
Wow! Impressive number!
But just because they could listen to the channel, drive by the sign or watch the show doesn’t mean they do! And even if they do…did they actually see it? Okay…let’s say they did see it. Great! But what you really want is…
Recall
How many of those people actually recall you and your message? Isn’t that one of the real goals of advertising? You want people to remember the ad! Studies show that at any given time about 3% of the population is actually in the market for your particular good or service. That’s a small
percentage! So when they have decided that they need your help, you want to make damn sure these folks remember you!
But the real holy grail of business success lies in…
Reaction
How many react (in a positive way) to the message. You want to reach them, yes. You want them to remember you, sure. But at the end of the day you want them to pick up the phone and call! You want them to go to their phone and email. You want them to go the website and buy! You (and your business) want a positive reaction!
It’s the 3 R’s of advertising. Let’s see how this study says each advertising media fares. Here is an honest evaluation.
Reach: Let’s face it. Reach is the “R” that promotional products are at the disadvantage. When you, as a business owner, invest in a TV spot, you are going to reach more people than with one promotional product. No doubt about it. Reach is a numbers game. Nearly all “mass” media is going to win the reach game.
The problem is, many business marketers stop measuring (or thinking) after they hear the reach numbers. That’s an issue. Because let’s face it, not all of those people are prospects. Not even a little bit. You are likely reaching lots of people that are not really prospects at all. And more importantly the study shows that not everyone is listening!
Recall: Not to be crass, but really who gives a crap about how many people you have reached if no one remembers! So now let’s dig into the numbers about how the advertising media fare when it comes to recall.
TV Ad Snapshot: 6 out of 10 respondents remembered the company/brand being promoted in the ad.
Print Ad Snapshot:55% of the respondents remembered the company/brand being promoted in the ad.
Online Ad Snapshot: 31.3% of respondents remembered the company/brand advertised in the ad.
Promotional Product: 82.6% of participants remembered the company/brand advertised with promotional product.
Okay…so in this study we can honestly say that the actual “recall” of the ad is better for the promotional products campaign. Great! Recall IS important. But as I mentioned earlier, the magic is in making people act.
And Reaction is where the real magic happens.
Reaction: You have spent advertising dollars. You want the phone to ring, the mouse to click, and the opportunities to open. What creates the most impact? Let’s look at this same 2009 study. This is simply based on what happens after…
TV Ad Snapshot: 3.1% of respondents said they reached out to the company after seeing the ad. 7.1% said they purchased from the advertiser after seeing the advertisement.
Print Ad Snapshot: 4.5% of respondents said they reached out to the company after seeing the ad. 13.4% said they purchased from the advertiser after seeing the advertisement.
Online Ad Snapshot: 4.8% of respondents said they reached out to the company after seeing the ad. 4.6% said they purchased from the advertiser after seeing the advertisement.
Promotional Product: 14.7% of respondents said they reached out to the company after seeing the ad. 20.9% said they purchased from the advertiser after seeing the advertisement.
Let’s take this all as a snapshot.
What does this mean to you? Well if I were you, I would want potential customers to remember my ad, and react to it. I am a numbers guy so I am going to point something out you. The number of respondents that said they picked up the phone and reached out the advertisers was 3 TIMES HIGHER with promotional products than with these other forms of advertising! That is a HUGE number people!
So as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is not an indictment of other media. But in so many areas of the business marketing world, promotional products are dismissed as a “throw away.” This kind of thinking is harmful to YOUR business! You need to understand that if you hope to be truly successful in the world of business, you better know your numbers!
And if you are using promotional products to promote your business (wisely), your numbers can be pointing UP!
On Thursday October 15th, Hasseman Marketing is hosting our first ever online marketing conference (register here). We are super excited about the event. We even wrote about 5 reasons you (and your team) should attend. But I think people are struggling to picture what the event will look like. Let me assure you, the MasterClass is not just another Zoom meeting.
In order to explain, I created this short video to go over what to expect.
The event starts at 2pm, but we are recommending everyone start to log in around 1:45.
We are asking this for a few reasons. First, we have all had that experience of trying to log into a new software for the first time. It can be confusing, and waiting until the last minute causes stress. We will also use that time to make announcements, talk about the flow of the day, and give attendees the chance to introduce themselves via the chat!
The program will begin at 2pm and we will welcome Bill Petrie to the stage. Bill is a great speaker and we are blessed to have him join us. He will be talking about how to make real connections in a virtual world. Bill (and his partner Kelsey) just launched a new company called brandivate during this pandemic…and they did it right. (I even wrote about it here). Bill will talk about that experience…and more.
At 2:30 we head into Breakout sessions.
During the breakout sessions, you will have several different topics to choose from. You will click on the sessions button on the left and see the options…and then enter the room. These will be quick topics with people living in that space designed to bring you real value. Oh…and at 2:50 we built in a 10 minute break!
At 3pm we are back on the Main Stage
Bobby Lehew is one of the most thoughtful content creators in the marketing industry and an amazing storyteller. Bobby has graciously agreed to join us to talk about how to tell your story more effectively. This will be a session you do not want to miss.
What About The Trade Show Floor?
One thing we heard from our customers when we started to plan this event was “we want to see suppliers.” Our Customer Appreciation event features some of our favorite supplier partners each year. And our customers have learned to use that as a tool for planning for next year. Don’t worry. We listened. We have an “Expo Area” built into the platform so you can go into vendor booths just like an in person trade show.
As you can see, we have a lot planned for this day and we are fired up to share it with you. Please join us. If you have not yet registered, there is still time. Please head here to get signed up for a great day. Oh…and if you have to plan any virtual meetings then you should check out the platform we are using. It’s called Hopin and I think you will enjoy it.
So as I hope you can see, this is not just another Zoom meeting. We want this to be a fast paced, full day that will help springboard you into a strong finish to 2020 (and beyond).
