Since the beginning of the pandemic, leaders have been trying to find a way to communicate the steps to take to slow the spread of the virus. As we all know, in March, most of the country shut down in order to “flatten the curve.” That worked to slow the spread, but it shut down the economy as well. Now that we are nearing the end of 2020, the predicted ramp up of cases is upon us…and leaders all over the country (and the world) are working to slow down the spread.
That goal is what led Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to meet with local officials in Coshocton County via Zoom. He implored our local leaders to get creative and do what they can to help communicate the message that we need to be safe. After the meeting, officials from the City of Coshocton and Coshocton Regional Medical Center reached to us to help spread the word. We discussed creating a video, including many local officials, entrepreneurs and healthcare leaders to send a unified message to our community. The theme became simple.
We need to “Step up…and Mask up!”
The work on that script and video began immediately and I am proud of what we created. But it was important to us to create something that sustains the message after the initial bump. So rather than just create a video, we worked to create a campaign. Next up, we reached out to government officials to step up as well. We sent out script (that I will include below) and the first person who recorded his version of the video was Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. He applauded the efforts of Coshocton County and encouraged everyone to “Step up…and Mask Up!”
Excited about this participation, we worked to keep the momentum going. We will continue to share the message from leaders and government officials, but we also wanted to add something tangible to the mix. So what better way to encourage people to “mask up” than to provide masks with the message? We agree. The design was created (as you see in the video) and the masks are ordered and are on their way. In addition, we have created re-positionable stickers that are being printed and will be given to businesses that want to promote the message.
We are excited about the positive momentum that has been created so far…and are happy to use our powers for good. So how can we keep this momentum going? Here are a couple of ideas. First, if you are in our area and you want to participate, let us know. While we think these items will go quickly, we can try to get you a sticker and a few masks to help spread the word. We know that some people find this message divisive (I don’t get that and I talk about it here), but we feel it’s the right thing to do.
If you are not in our area, maybe you can create a campaign like ours in your community. In the interest of helping, here is the script we created that you can modify and use.
Step Up…Mask Up Script
In Coshocton County, we are proud.
We take care of one another, and look out for our neighbors.
We believe in supporting small businesses.
And we celebrate our heroes in healthcare.
We are kind…and we are proud to give back.
That is why we want to urge you to “mask up.”
Wearing a mask is not a weakness…it’s kindness. Mask up.
Wash your hands. Keep your distance. And mask up.
Step up…and Mask up.
(Multiple Leaders on screen). Step up and Mask Up
Let’s all do our part. Be kind. Support small business. Help keep each other safe.
That is who we are Coshocton County.
Let’s step up…and mask up.
Special thanks to our local leaders for not only wanting to do what’s right…but stepping up and working together to make it happen.
Here’s to keeping each other safe. Step Up. Mask Up.
Let’s say you are in a leadership role in a growing company. Good for you! Whether you are in purchasing, marketing, sales or the C-suite, this might sound familiar. You have worked hard to create a logo and brand messaging that works. The key players were all involved. You might have worked with an outside firm, or handled it with your internal team, but now you have a logo that you love. The colors are perfect. The feel is just right. And you have even created a set of brand guidelines that make sure everyone understands what you can and can’t do with your beloved brand. This is awesome…it’s how you create a tribe!
Then one day you see something that is very upsetting.
You are walking through the halls of your beloved institution and you see a fellow employee wearing a shirt that CLEARLY is outside of the brand guidelines! At first, you think it’s just an anomaly…but then you see another. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it. There is “off brand” merchandise all over! Apparently, a rogue manager (with the best of intentions) wanted to appreciate their staff, so they went and got some branded merchandise on their own. Since there was no clear internal option to make this happen, they did it on their own…and the logo brand guidelines got flushed down the toilet.
This is every brand manager’s nightmare. And this is just one good reason to create a company store.
A company store is an online e-commerce solution that offers branded merchandise for members of your organization to order. Done right, this solution can be simple and easy to use. And it will help to decrease the number of times that well-intentioned managers will “go rogue” for branded merchandise. It gives members of your team a place to shop and find curated branded merchandise that is consistent with your brand AND can be vetted to make sure you can imprint the correct information. While they do take some time to set up, they can help both marketing and purchasing be sure that promotional purchases are done right.
Understand the Kinds of Company Store
If you want to create a company store, it’s important to know what kind you want. While there are plenty of variations, let’s stick with two basic types of stores. These are inventory versus non-inventory stores. Both types of stores have their place, but you need to understand them before you pick the one that’s right for your organization.
Inventory Store
An inventory store is where you (or your promotional products partner) order all of the branded merchandise in and warehouse the items. Then, as people from around your organization order, the items can be shipped out “on demand.” Sometimes these items are warehoused at the customer location and sometimes the promotional products partner manages that. The advantages to this kind of store are speed and minimums. Simply put, if you have the item imprinted, done and warehoused, you can ship them to your team right away. In addition, if you just want one shirt, this is a very easy way to do it. You can order just one.
There are several disadvantages to this type of store too. First, someone has to purchase all of these items up front. Whether it’s the customer or the partner, someone is on the hook for these items. So if at the end of year these items don’t sell, you will ultimately own them. So you better be really good at choosing items AND the quantity you will warehouse. In addition, someone has to warehouse the items and manage the items. For larger organizations, this financial commitment might be easy enough. But for smaller organizations this can be a big cash flow challenge.
Non-Inventory Store
The other option for a company store includes the non-inventory store. This option has become more and more popular over the last several years. It allows companies to address the brand issues that arise at the beginning of this post without having to commit to large amounts of branded merchandise each year. In this option, a company creates an online store with curated products that match the company brand. Then, as departments need to order, they can order from these selections with a manufacturers minimum. The order is then created “on demand” and the customer is only billed for the items as they are created.
The downside to a store like this is, you don’t have these items on hand. So time and minimums are more of a challenge (though both can be mitigated). If you just need one last minute polo for a golf outing, this is not a great solution. But if want to manage the brand, manage budgets and keep control on both, this can be a great option…even for smaller organizations.
So now that you know what kind of company stores there are…how can you make a good one? Here are a few tips on creating a company store.
Include the Basics
When you are creating a curated collection of items for your company store, don’t out think the room. Yes, you might want to include some cool and hot new products in the mix. That’s great. We are in favor of that. But don’t forget the foundational products that most people want and need. You will want to include a drink ware, writing instruments, and apparel. These are staples. You want to have items that are functional. I would also recommend getting multiples in a couple of these categories. While you may love a Nike 1/4 zip (and I do) not every budget will allow for that. Give people basic options so they can use the company store without breaking the bank.
Keep It Simple
On the other hand, though you want options, you don’t want TOO many options! Keep it simple. Just like at the grocery store, if you give people too many options, they might not be able to choose at all. It’s a delicate balance. And remember, you can always add items down the road. Which leads nicely to…
Update Items Seasonally
If you want people to continue to check out your store (and ultimately stick to the brand), continue to add options. I recommend adding items at least once a quarter. First, this gives your team some new ways to award their team and promote your brand. In addition, this is part of the fun for you! Be on the lookout for cool new items, or have us do that for you! This is a great place to add items to the list that are missing…or give you a place to try more “off the wall” items that might fit during a time.
Get Feedback From the Troops
When it comes to your organization’s company store, your team members are your customers. Listen to their feedback! While you won’t be able to add every single item that is requested, you will likely see some themes. Giving your team input into the items that are on the store will give them more ownership in the idea. That makes it more likely that they will stick to the program and won’t go rogue again!
These are just a few tips on getting your company store up and running successfully. If you want to chat more about whether a company store is right for your organization, we would love to talk!
Creating and hosting a “slam dunk” event for your company or organization can have a huge impact on your success. This has been a foundational concept for years. But now 2020 has happened, events can look very different. So how can you create a virtual event that rocks? Let’s dig into some ways to create an event that is one to remember.
Let’s start with a note. When creating a virtual event, you need to understand that it’s not the same as an in person event. That’s okay, but it’s really important to understand. The more you try to “recreate” the in person event, the more you will struggle. It’s a different animal. So as you imagine what your event will be, and what you want it to accomplish, remember that your attendees will not be “with you” in the physical sense. So creating an experience that meets them where they actually are is critical.
With that being said, whether it’s a fundraiser, an educational event or an thank you party, a well-run event can help increase loyalty and
create revenue. But just like anything else in business, if you want to have an exceptional event, the devil is in the details. Let’s talk about a few of these details on how to create a virtual event that hits the mark.
Create Your Theme
Most successful events (whether in person or virtual) have some sort of theme to build around. The more fun and creative the theme, the more you can build it up. So spend some time around the brainstorm table and come up with a theme that really moves the needle for your audience. And because this event is virtual, I love the idea of building around that.
After you have created the theme, you can take it to the next level by creating an event logo. You don’t have to do this, but it helps to brand everything at the event and make it feel “first class.” And you don’t need to spend big bucks on this. Have a staff contest and come up with something fun and simple! It will help to improve the overall impression of the entire event.
Each year, our company hosts a Customer Appreciation Show. The event has evolved from a strictly “thank you” event for our customers, into a real business event complete with Trade Show set up and a speaker. But this year, 2020 happened. So we decided not to host the in person event. Instead we decided to create an virtual event we called the Hasseman Marketing MasterClass. The event featured amazing speakers, some really cool break out session, and even a vendor area. As you can see, we created a theme and a logo to kick off this inaugural event with a bang.
Staff Uniform
The theme also allows you to start thinking about what the staff will wear. Now you might be thinking “If we are not in person, why do we need to do this?” Fair. But I think by creating a “uniform” that stands out, your attendees can really see your team unity here. It’s great that we have been able to be more casual in working from home, but I don’t think your organization’s event is the one where every one should be wearing sweatpants. It does not have to be fancy, but it’s just a small detail that can make it look sharp.
Pre-Event SWAG Box
One of the reasons to create an event logo is to create a pre-event swag bag (or box). With a virtual event, I think this is more important than ever. We have all been invited to an infinite number of Zoom meetings. While this technology has been a Godsend, we are all tired of them. This box of branded goodness can help to not only increase your organizations brand awareness, but also improve excitement for the event..
Another reason to create this swag box in advance of the event is the promotion you will get on Social Medial. Obviously, you want to promote the items you will be giving away. But if you create a box of branded merchandise that delights, then you will get your attendees and customers to tell the story for you! Help them. Create a card to include in the box to explain the items and to ask them to post their goodies. My suggestion, create a hashtag for the event and ask them to use that when posting! This allows you to track the content and helps to build excitement in advance of the event.
Choosing The Platform
At an in person event, the venue is really important right? Well for a virtual event, the platform is your venue. A platform that is easy to use is really important. And having technology that has the details thought through can really help you shape the flow of the event. We used the platform Hopin and I really liked it. More than just a zoom meeting, Hopin allowed us to mimic the flow of a normal event in order to keep the pace of the event moving. With a virtual event, I think pace really matters. When people can simply get up and walk away from their computer, you better keep them engaged.
At The Event…First Impressions
I know I am dating myself, but I remember a scene from the original Karate Kid movie. Mr. Myagi was teaching Daniel-san to shape the Bonsai trees. He told Daniel-san to close his eyes and imagine what the tree should look like. He told him to see it like a picture. Then he told him to open his eyes and “make the picture.”
That’s a little like planning any event. Close your eyes and imagine all the details of the event. Now go make the picture.
Here are some quick questions to ask yourself:
What do I want people to see first when they “enter” the event?
What do I want them to hear?
How do I want them to interact?
A virtual event is different, so it’s really important to be intentional. We felt it was important for them to be greeted into the event. It was going to be the first time many of them used the platform, so we wanted to explain it to them. How was the day going to go? What could they expect? During a virtual event, some people are going to struggle with the technology, so you need to over communicate.
Preaching Patience
One piece of advice I got when planning the event was to “preach patience.” This advice came from some of the early adopters of virtual events…my friends at Commonsku. These folks were some of the first to create really great virtual events…and they continue to up their game in this area. As they told me, there will be technology glitches. You are dealing with hundreds of different people, with different computers, and individual internet connections. Things will go wrong. From the very beginning of our event, we tried to explain that. We told them to refresh if things locked up…and where to reach out if they struggled. It was not perfect, of course. But overall, the event went off well. Oh…and if you want to hear their take on virtual events from them, check out this podcast.
Follow Up After The Event
In almost the entire business world, most people fall on their faces in the follow up. So make sure you have an actual plan in place to thank your attendees for coming. Often this can be done with a simple email campaign to recognize that you actually did notice the participants were there. But if you have a few select clients, this might be the place to take it to the next level.
Create a quick mailer with one last premium (with the theme) that goes to your “target list” or your “top clients” or whatever. Just one last touch like this will not only make your event (and your organization) stand out, but it will also provide one more “lasting impact” piece for their desk, office or home.
As much as we would love to imagine that all of these COVID restrictions are going away, I think that is naive. We need to be prepared to keep being creative when it comes to business. I hope this helps you think about how you can go to market and create a virtual event that rocks!
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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