At Hasseman Marketing, we are committed to helping fix the Appreciation Gap. We do that by assisting organizations to find really cool Branded Merch to gift to their team and their best customers. Our challenge is, there are so many categories of products that fit the bill! It’s a great problem to have! We work with amazing suppliers with great products…and that’s great! So we are going to feature different cool year-end gifts each time. This week we feature one of our favorite year-end gift categories…drinkware.
13 oz. Barista Ceramic Custom Mugs with Cork Bottom
We have been featuring this ceramic mug a lot this year. Made with stoneware and a faux cork bottom, this piece not only has a great look (and it does) but the cork helps to protect your hands from the heat of that much-needed coffee in the morning. This has a great look for an office mug or is the perfect mug to hand out to clients. Click here to find pricing.
12 oz. Itsy Vacuum Insulated Travel Mug
Can you say functional? This double wall vacuum sealed tumbler is perfect to keep your coffee hot or your cold drinks cold, but it is perfect for on the go…or staying at the office. And with this smaller size, you can also use this with your Keurig as well. Priced here with a one-color imprint, this is a great year-end gift that will not break the bank.
Hydro Flask® Standard Mouth 21 oz Bottle with Flex Cap
Your perfect travel companion. Keep life moving with the Hydro Flask® Standard Mouth With Flex Cap 21oz. It stashes easily into a small shoulder bag, your pack’s side pocket, or your car cup holder, and holds enough ice-cold goodness to keep you going for hours without weighing you down. No wonder it’s one of our bestselling water bottles. TempShield™ insulation eliminates condensation and keeps beverages cold up to 24 hours and hot up to 12 hours. Learn more here.
It’s hard to believe we are in Appreciation Season, but September is here. Please check out the shop. We have even more to select from there! But if you need additional ideas, we would love to help!
At Hasseman Marketing, we are committed to helping fix the Appreciation Gap. We do that by helping organizations find really cool Branded Merch to gift to their team and their best customers. Our challenge is, there are so many categories of products that fit the bill. We work with some amazing suppliers with great products…and that’s a great thing! So we are going to feature different cool year-end gifts each week. This week, we are featuring some amazing blankets from our pals at PCNA. And the best part is, they are on sale!
Field & Co.® Picnic Blanket
This plaid Field & Co.® Picnic Blanket features comfortable polar fleece with foam padding and PEVA backing. The built-in 11″ x 4.5″ pocket is perfect for storing mobile devices or any other picnic necessities. The blanket measures 48″ x 54″ unfolded and 7.5″ x 12″ folded. Learn more at the PCNA website here. Or you can shop on our Featured year-end gift shop here and find even better pricing!
American Giant Campfire Blanket
The American Giant Campfire Blanket is made with American Giant’s signature heavyweight fleece. This all-purpose blanket is soft and durable. Built for use anytime. Made with remnants left over from hoodie production, so nothing goes to waste. Made in the USA. Check out this blanket on our Featured year-end gift shop here.
tentree Organic Cotton Ocean Breeze Throw
The tentree Organic Cotton Ocean Breeze Throw features tasseled edges and reversible print, making this throw a show-stopper. Made from 100% Organic Cotton. Unfolded dimensions are 55″ x 86″. Through a partnership with 1% For The Planet, one percent of sales of all EcoSmart® products are donated to environmental nonprofits. This is a blanket that will make you feel good about giving it in so many ways. Learn more about it here. And of course, you can shop here at our Featured Year End Shop.
It’s hard to believe we are in Appreciation Season, but September is almost here. Please check out the shop. We have even more to select from there! But if you need additional ideas, we would love to help!
You know what time it is! It’s time for Thirsty Thursday! Thirsty Thursday is the award-winning piece of content from Hasseman Marketing where we take a mystery drink out of a piece of branded drinkware! Be careful…it’s not for everyone. We take a mystery drink out of a piece of branded drinkware. This week we feature the Arlo Ceramic Tumbler from our pals at PCNA. But wait…there’s more! This time, we welcome the “Teacher on Tik Tok Savannah Brown to the show! Watch the latest episode here!
Why Should You Consider the Arlo Ceramic Tumbler with Bamboo Lid?
The Arlo Ceramic Tumbler with Bamboo Lid 11oz features a matte glazed-top outer-wall finish with a contrasting natural baked base. Double-wall ceramic construction helps prevent condensation on the outside of the tumbler. The spill-resistant, screw-on lid is made from FSC-certified bamboo. Recommended hand wash only. Please note due to the color of the clay, some mugs may vary in color.
It’s time for Thirsty Thursday! Thirsty Thursday is the award-winning piece of content from Hasseman Marketing where we take a mystery drink out of a piece of branded drinkware! It’s funny. It’s irreverent. And we will show you some really cool merch as well! This week we feature the Padova Series from our pals at Moderne Glass. But wait…there’s more! This time, we celebrate Briar Swigert’s 21st birthday by welcoming him to join the show! Watch the latest episode here and help us wish Briar a happy birthday!
Why Should you consider the Padova Series?
This double-walled vacuum-sealed drinkware piece has a great look and several colors to choose from. And the price is right as well!
It’s time to reach…and it’s time to build your reach. This blog is part of an ongoing series of blogs featuring the TARGET Marketing Framework. You can get our TARGET Marketing Playbook for FREE here. Now let’s talk about how to increase your reach in business.
The first part of Reach is to simply reach across platforms and start to build your brand. This is when you want to create content targeted at providing value to that perfect customer. The format may vary (as will the social media platform), but you must create more content than you are comfortable with.
This is when you will hear that voice in your head…pushing back.
The more you push, the louder this voice will get. You will hear things like:
“Who do you think you are?”
“No one wants to hear from you!”
“This is too much!”
“You are full of yourself!”
“Yeah, but…”
And much more. This is the voice inside your head that is trying to keep you safe and comfortable. And when it comes to Reach…you will need to get uncomfortable.
Gary Vaynerchuk, in a recent interview, said that you need to be creating up to 40 pieces of content a day, across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Read that again. 40 pieces of content per day!
Hear that voice yet?
While I am not going to prescribe a specific number of posts you need to make per day (though I love that Gary V does), I will say, it’s more than you think. This is brand building in a noisy world. One post per week is not going to cut it. You have to force yourself to reach.
It’s time to Give First
I have said that we are in a “Give First” Economy. The entrepreneurs, marketers, salespeople, and organizations that provide value first, are the ones that are going to win. This builds trust and integrity with the exact audience you want to reach. It means you are creating content that actually provides value.
So many small businesses use social media like all other forms of advertising. They just sell, sell, sell. And while there is a time to go for the sale (we will talk about that next), now is the time to answer questions, give tips, and entertain. During the R stage, you are building the relationship and building a brand.
Need a basic jumping-off point? Start with the ten questions you find yourself answering all of the time. Now create content that honestly and thoroughly answers those questions. These might be blog posts, TikToks, YouTube videos, and Instagram posts. But by answering the questions and giving first, you are starting to build a real relationship with those you want to serve.
Finally, while you are Reaching across platforms, don’t forget to build your Reach. What I mean by that is, to keep nurturing the list you are building for your organization. Now is a great time to continue to promote your lead magnet. It’s also a great time to deliver this relevant “give first” content to your list.
This is a great way to continue to build the value of your list by giving them value on a regular basis (that is not just a sales pitch).
How big is your list? This blog is part of an ongoing series of blogs featuring the TARGET Marketing Framework. You can get our TARGET Marketing Playbook for FREE here. Now let’s talk about how to build a list for your business!
What do I mean? I simply mean, how big is your list of customers and prospects that could buy from you? And do you own that information? Do you have their phone numbers, mailing addresses, and emails?
Oh…and do you have permission to contact them when you want?
If you don’t have a list…you don’t have a business.
The A in TARGET means it’s time to Attract your perfect customers and prospects to your owned list. This will not only allow you to provide them with valuable content but will also let you provide them with great offers when the time is right.
But what is “owned” media?
As business owners, marketers, entrepreneurs, and salespeople, we have gotten very comfortable with “rented” media. Rented media is when someone else owns the audience, or the audience’s attention. They decide who and what is exposed to it. And they charge to give access to that attention.
The radio station owns the audience. The TV station owns the audience. The newspaper owns the audience. We simply rent some time. And to be fair, they should own the audience. They have spent the time to create that relationship with the audience. They have created valuable content for them.
It’s not your audience. You are paying to have access.
And for those of you saying, “I don’t use traditional media; I have my audience on social media.” Bad news. You don’t own that audience either. Facebook owns it. YouTube owns it. TikTok owns it. The reason I know that is, if that platform goes away, or changes its algorithm, or just gets mad at you, it can all go away…just like that. You don’t own those contacts, the platform does.
A couple of years ago, Facebook and Instagram just went down for about 6 hours. No explanation. Just…down. And many of my entrepreneur friends lost their minds. Their entire business went down with it. They had no way to contact their clients.
It was a great reminder. While I am a big fan of social media (and we will talk about that in just a minute), we need to continue to work to grow our own audience, so that when (and I did not say “if”) one of these platforms goes away, we still have access to the audience we have created.
You need to create “owned” media.
So how do you do it? Here are 3 ways to grow your list.
Start with the low-hanging fruit.
First, if you have an existing business, reach out to those clients you are already working with. Explain to them that you are starting a newsletter (to provide them with value, content, etc.). In it, you will send them special deals for being a part of this “VIP” group. In addition, I like to let them know how often I will be sending the email (and promise not to spam them). We have all been on the list that sends 12 emails a day. That’s no fun…and it diminishes your trust with the audience. You want to provide real value for your perfect customers and prospects!
Now that you have established your list, it’s time to actively grow it.
Second, use your social channels to ask. If you have created a following on social media, this is a great place to invite people to follow you for “VIP” access. Explain the same thing that you did to your customer list. What are you going to send them? How often will you send it? Why would they want to sign up? While not everyone will sign up from this invitation, some probably will jump on board!
Third, it’s time to create a lead magnet. A lead magnet is some piece of content that will provide that prospect or customer with something that has a lot of value to them. This is why it’s so important to spend time on the (T) section identifying that perfect customer. By knowing them, you can create something that really addresses their needs.
This lead magnet might be a PDF, a video, an audio, or a video series. But it’s something that helps your perfect customer go to where they want to go. And let’s face it, it needs to have real value. If someone is going to give you their email, they want to make sure it’s worth it. So, I am a big believer in trying to over-deliver here.
This is a perfect place to start your relationship on the right foot.
Now that you have the lead magnet created, don’t be shy about sharing it! This needs to be prominently placed on your website, social media, and maybe even on your business card. Make sure you are giving every prospect and customer the opportunity to give you their contact information!
Remember…if you are proud of the content you are sharing on this email…then they need to be a part of it!
Bonus Idea for Starting the List
Another idea for kick-starting the list is by creating a contest. In this example, you might give away something really cool (that your perfect customer would love) in order to gather names for the list. This can be a great way to get your list started.
My wife and I renovated an old building in Coshocton, Ohio. She did a ton of work on the building, and it is now a successful Airbnb. We have people from all over the country coming to our community to visit…and they stay with us. It’s really cool. (You can learn more at ChooseCoshocton.com).
The problem, as I see it, is that we don’t “own” the audience. Airbnb owns it. And to be clear, we think they do a great job. But what happens if Airbnb goes away? Our business goes with it.
So, we decided we wanted to be more intentional in creating an avenue that we could communicate with our intended “Targets.” The problem was, we had none of their contact information.
So, we started with a contest.
We posted a contest giving away a two-night stay in our community. In addition, we offered a $50 gift certificate at two local restaurants. We created a landing page to capture the information and posted to social media. In addition, we also asked the local Convention & Visitor’s Bureau to include the contest in their email (an audience of people who visit our area that they had created).
The result was great! We got several hundred people who signed up for the contest and became the beginning of our own “owned” media. We have since created a lead magnet for the area and continue to build the list.
