Creative Gift Ideas: Why Promotional Products Work

Branded Merchandise and Promotinal Products work

Don’t bypass promotional products – they are a powerful, affordable marketing tool. In addition to the high-tech reach of web marketing and social media, actually putting a physical gift into someone’s hands that they can use will keep your brand recognized and relevant in their mind. When you are considering investing a portion of your marketing budget into branded merchandise or promotional products, think about these characteristics that make them so effective:

Brand, brand, brand: promotional products generate brand awareness and exposure. You can choose an object that relates to your enterprise itself or to a specific message you want your business to convey. For instance, if you are an auto repair business, you could distribute vehicle cup holders, sunglasses, visor clips, or other such items useful to a driver. But, if your emphasis is on helping clients solve problems, choose a calculator; if you want to highlight your timeliness – a dashboard clock or calendar.

People Like Gifts: unlike a flyer, banner ad on a website or text message, branded merchandise has a physical presence and value. Promotional items are not thrown away, but often regarded as a gift. Their value and usefulness will keep them on your customers desk, in their purse, on their keychain… and that keeps your brand refreshed in their mind each time they see it. When you become part of a person’s daily life in that small way, you are more connected to them than a competitor. In a more literal way, give the item itself value as a coupon. For instance, a restaurant could brand drink coasters with a coupon on the back for a free appetizer at next visit. The coaster stays with them, reminding them of your brand with each glance or use.

Low Cost: when you order promotional products, you receive a price per piece that is far lower than the usual retail cost, and the selection is vast. Some items are very inexpensive, and others are much more high end. Test the waters with a low cost item, or reward valuable customers with a keepsake item for the holidays… all branded with your logo, contact information and message. When the product is something that will be used in public – such as an umbrella, sports equipment or iPad case– you get even more value for your marketing dollar as your logo is seen by others on a product they would also use.

Creative relevance: with such a diverse selection of products to choose from, you have a great oppportunity to get creative. Work out a tagline that makes sense with the product and work it into your larger marketing campaign. A quick example: if you run a insurance business, you could give away branded rain ponchos or small umbrellas with the tagline “We’ve got you covered.” If you want to emphasize the your company’s environmental commitment, think about seed packets, herb garden starter kits, or products made from recyclable materials. You get the idea… get creative.

Check out the diversity of items you can incorporate into your marketing plan: frisbees to hot sauce, yo yo’s to surgery scrubs. The variety is really eye-opening. Do yourself a favor and browse the promotional products catalog – you’ll get inspired with products that can get your business noticed and remembered.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

Now THAT is Integrated Marketing – Taco Bell Shows How its Done

Taco Bell uses QR codes, AR and social media for huge product launch

We have all heard the discussion about what the true value of social media and marketing via Facebook, Twitter, etc. is for small and medium sized businesses. Everyone wants to know the ROI – we want hard and fast data proving this much money in, this much money out. But the reality that is gradually being revealed is a brave new tech world where the old business school models don’t always hold up in the face of “viral” product buzz. For both B-to-B or B-to-C models, the emerging evidence indicates that building a social network of customers, clients, acquaintances or like-minded individuals both locally and internationally holds an undeniably great marketing potential for any enterprise. This instant connectivity has never been possible before, and it’s value is rich.

The question for marketers becomes how to leverage this newfound social network into everything from product buzz to hard and fast profits. Take a look at how Taco Bell is making this work. They have 167,000 Twitter followers and over 8 million Facebook fans – a definitely solid base to begin a project like this with. The product being launched: Doritos Locos Tacos, which also provides sponsorship for a series of concerts called “Feed the Beat.” Packaging on the taco has a QR code to link those who scan it to exclusive video of these music concerts. An AR (augmented reality) code on other packaging lets consumers connect via a Taco Bell mobile app to view live Tweets and Facebook comments.

Now the brilliant draw in all this, even more than the online music and connectivity, is that TacoBell will be displayhing selected tweets using the #DoritosLocosTacos hashtag on digital billboards in Times Square in New York City and Sunset Boulevard in LA. The payoff for fans is to see their name up in lights (so to speak) in such iconic locations. The payoff for TacoBell and Doritos? Well you can see that clearly.

The Whole Enchilada…. er, Taco

Print, web, social media, signage, mobile marketing, product packaging… a truly integrated campaign uses all available media, and leverages that content through the connectivity of a solid social network. The best advice here for any small business appears to be develop your social network online, and then get creative about using that base to get your message out.

The development of a social network on outlets such as Twitter and Facebook is itself an asset. Many have questioned the profitability of spending the time and manpower to cultivate such a network. Enterprises like this Taco Bell campaign are blazing the trail to show how such connection can be leveraged into a big – and increasingly essential – marketing win.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

A Bloody Little Lesson about the Power of Promotional Products

I had a lesson this morning in the way promotional products have an impact above and beyond other traditional pieces of marketing. We’ve all had a paper cut. If you ever worked in the print industry, you’ve had a lot of them – and are aware of the degrees of severity these cuts can have: from the “one sheet slice” that occurs when opening a letter or shuffling papers on the desk, to the pain and hemmoraging caused by sliding your hand down the length of a stack of 100# gloss cover at just the right angle while trying to hurriedly load a digital press.

Branded Merchandise comes in handy in an emergency

First thing this morning I inflicted the bleeder seen above. Not huge, but painful (why do paper cuts hurt as bad as they do? Read up on that here.)  – and as I’m right-handed, it pretty much makes everything you do impossible until you stop the bleeding. A few cuts like this and you learn to show respect when handling paper. A good supply of bandages is always smart to keep close by in a print shop, but today I was out of the ones I keep at my desk. Then I remembered ImageSmith has a handy bandage dispenser as a promotional product: imprinted with our logo and contact information, and even containing zebra-striped adhesive bandages to promote our marketing tagline “Earning our stripes… every day.” A supply is displayed up front to give to customers.

Finding this bandage dispenser at the right moment was a clear lesson to me in the impact that branded merchandise can have. Most folks will hang onto this item as they know its handy to keep a few bandages nearby for an emergency. Your logo and message are refreshed in the person’s mind each time they notice it at their workstation. At the moment of need… when you really do need a bandage to stop the bleeding… the message of the product is a powerful one.

What message is this product implying when it functions in this way?

  • “I’m helpful.”
  • “I’m close at hand when you have a serious need.”
  • “I was thinking ahead, knowing you might need me some day.”
  • “I stay one step ahead, and can help you.”

Pretty powerful messages, right?

Think about how branded merchandise could be used for your company to put your logo and message directly into the hands of your public. Make it a gift that they will want to use, find helpful and keep handy. The longevity of these items outstrips other promotional media by far, as people have a need for the items beyond their marketing message. The variety of products available is HUGE. Enter a search term here and take a look at what you can order.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

Spring Forward with Branded Merchandise

Promotional products branded with your logo and message

The swag bags given away at the Oscars this year were valued at over $62,000 each. That investment would never be made by these masters of marketing if there was not a solid return on such an investment. These folks understand the power of promotional products! Giving away branded merchandise that is relevant to your business, desired by your customer base and branded with your mark, colors and message is a proven way to increase customer loyalty, attract attention and get noticed.

Branded merchandise keeps your company name right in the hands of your customers for far longer than other media – a steady reminder of your quality and generosity. The variety of products you can choose to brand is HUGE… select something appropriate for the season, for your current promotions, or based on your customer’s interests. In spring and summer, products that appeal to the athlete or outdoor lover work great: drinkware, lanyards, sunglasses, caribiner clips with bottles of sunblock or skin lotion. Finding a product that is relevant to your business and desired by your customer base should be easy… in fact the hard decision will be narrowing down which item you want to invest in to promote your business. These promotional products branded with your color, look, and logo will go far in helping you create brand loyalty and recognition in a way other media cannot match.

To browse through a huge selection of promotional products that are available for branding, go online at online store. You may also want to read our other blog articles for information and ideas on branding, promotions and integrated marketing. Remember, the more useful and desired the item is, the longer it will stay in the hands of your potential customer. A banner ad on a website is seen for a few seconds – they can hang onto that handy flash drive or water bottle bearing your logo and compliments for months to come.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

The Power of Design: the Madrid 2020 Olympic Logo Controversy

Good intentions – bad results. Olympic logos seem to keep going offtrack. Remember the London 2012 controversy? Well the latest logo disaster getting lots of attention online comes from Madrid’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. An attempt to represent both the Olympic rings, an architectural landmark in Madrid and the mark “M20” somehow turned into a childish looking brand symbol that seems to move the games from 2020 to 20020! Disaster – but an eloquent lesson in the power of design, both good and not so good.

Logo of the Madrid 2020 Olympic aspirations
2020... or 20020?

Above is the controversial logo. To many people, that first, all-important impression is of a chopped off symbol that seems to be a typo, moving the 2020 games into the future by about 18,000 years! A look at the original design below will help illustrate where things went off track here.

Art student's original design, via www.elmundo.es

The original idea was created by a 22-year-old student named Luis Peiret. What came to appear as “20020” was originally “M20.” However the Madrid-based advertising agency Tapsa made some confusing changes which to many derailed their branding efforts. When the initial response to such a design is so clear, you have to wonder why the design firm did not see these problems in advance, or if seen why they decided they would not overshadow their purpose.

A logo that needs to come with an explanation defeats the purpose of good design. In this instance, the arches in the design represent a historical landmark in Madrid, the colors represent the Olympic colors – however black was exhanged for purple (?) A Spanish online poll found 81% of people said they did not like the logo. Pieret’s comment: “This is not my logo.” Ouch.

The old saying is that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Perhaps this is a good example of how too many well-intentioned design authorities produced a confused, ineffective brand result. If you ever wonder about the power and importance of good design, this controversy over the logo could potentially hurt Madrid’s chances to host the Olympic Games – a high price to pay for a questionable design decision.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

Think Big, Print Big: Wide Format Banners, Posters & More

Think Big Wide Format Full Color Printing

Big ideas, big dreams, big plans? Then you need big printing. Large, glossy, full-color wide format is increasingly a smart marketing choice for making a bold, clear statement. Think about the visual impact you could make in your business with banners, adhesive wall clings, car wraps, event signage, posters, window graphics, floor graphics. High quality design and signage is now affordable for every budget and versatile for every structure or medium. It is also easy to change up to reflect new information and stayfresh in the public eye.

Take a moment to look around at any of your large blank walls, windows or spaces in any public area of your business and you begin to realize how that visual canvas is not being utilized to represent your brand, your message, your mission. It is being seen… it should be getting noticed and remembered! And not all wall coverings need to be advertising copy or photography. Perhaps you can simply use shape and color to “brand” your walls or windows for visual interest, keeping them in accordance with your brand’s palette.

Consider what might very well be your most valuable advertising real estate: storefront windows, waiting room and lobby walls, even shop floors. They are encountered by every customer or client, and even others just passing by – you should be using that marketing opportunity to relay your message and reinforce your brand. When you start looking around you will discover many creative ways to use large-format printing:

  • banners
  • removable vinyl wall graphics & murals
  • car wraps
  • event signage
  • posters
  • floor graphics
  • window clings
  • mounted trade show displays
  • sale announcements or information
  • directional signage
  • product exhibits
  • decorative designs and murals to compliment your brand

Thinking big will grow your business and sales in the new year, and wide format printing is a versatile, affordable and smart component of that winning marketing strategy. It allows you to see your your business with an artist’s or architect’s eye. Enjoy being creative with your marketing.

Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

 

 

Why Your Business Card Still Matters

Business cards are just like a handshake. They are a form of greeting that makes an actual physical connection, and can be the most important part of establishing a positive “first impression” with a client. While there are many new ways to connect digitally, the printed business card still stands as the most useful and powerful tool of your initial marketing contact.

Why Your Business Card is Like a Handshake

Yes, there are cool, new digital ways to pass information. You can “bump” your iPhones to share contact data. The site IdentyMe seeks to unite all your online profiles and serve as your digital business card. Even social media sites liked LinkedIn serve some of the same purposes as the standard business card. All useful – and yet they don’t ever replace the experience of giving your printed card in a face-to-face meeting. It is, in essence, a gift (read about how Japanese business card etiquette and the respect and ceremony with which they view this formality) – so be sure you gift does three important things:

  • BE INFORMATIVE – After all, that is the purpose of this little piece of paper – to place in someone’s hand information about how you want them to connect with you. Today that info includes not only your phone and address, but potentially your email, website, blog address, Facebook or LinkedIn account, YouTube channel…. many more paths of connection than ever existed before. And all the more reason to have that information handy and easily transferable!
  • BE BRANDED – your card needs to clearly and powerfully represent your brand. As a physical card, it probably gets more actual viewing time than any of your other marketing efforts, so it needs to clearly depict you, your brand, your mission.
  • BE CREATIVE – you can relay across your information in plain, clear text. But unless “plain” is the image you want to implant in someone’s mind, use this opportunity to get noticed and remembered. Try a folded card, a die cut shape, thermography, foil stamps, non-standard sizes. What about a card that is plastic? or wood? or corrugated? Think about what represents you, and be open to more creative ways to get that across in a memorable way. After all, your potential client or customer will be holding the piece in their hand. That moment is something a website cannot duplicate. Make the most of it. It will represent you in their mind.

Check out this link for a really cool gallery of creative business card ideas to get you thinking. Then call us at 828-684-4512 to talk about how we can help!

Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

 

Versatile Vinyl Makeover: Removable Wall Murals

Removable vinyl wall murals and wide-format graphics can recreate your office, showroom, factory or store. Custom wall murals, window graphics, even floor and ceiling graphics: take a look at some of the images below as an inspiration to what you can accomplish in your business or even home setting. These products are removable, repositionable, durable and fade resistant. Inspire your staff with a visually stunning workspace, or promote your brand in an eye-catching, innovative way that will position you for greater success in 2012. Call us to talk about this easy, affordable way to give your workplace a whole new attitude!

(ImageSmith Communications makes no claim to ownership of the images below. Click on the images to visit their original websites and view their ownership.)
Floor Graphics, Wide Format Print
Floor graphics can be visually stunning and useful, even in a warehouse or industrial setting. Form and function. The use of text as design is very effective in these examples, as they combine both the instructional intent of the signage with a visual aesthetic that intrigues and pleases the viewer.
Vinyl wall murals
Make a memorable impression on the walls of your lobby, showroom or workplace with full color, vinyl murals that reinforce your brand.
Vinyl Window Graphic Perforated
Perforated Vinyl Window Graphics take advantage of your most valuable, and probably underused advertising real estate… your lobby or store windows. They are removable, UV protected and can be visually stunning.
Vinyl, removable ceiling mural graphic
If you’re inspired by Michaelangelo, a ceiling mural takes advantage of some more prime real estate.
Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

 

Print: The Heart of Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Variable Data Printed and Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Tangible, portable, engaging, accessible, user-friendly, multiuse, renewable, versatile and creative… all great reasons to make print the foundation of your marketing campaign. Its very nature as a physical, rather than digital, object makes it effective and respected in the consumer’s mind. With advances in digital printing, the cost of print is even more affordable than ever for short or long runs. But by combining print with the new tools available online for personalized, trackable, interactive communication, you can boost your ROI with a truly integrated marketing campaign.

Print is user-friendly. All market segments feel comfortable viewing and reading information in print — therefore it can be used to lead those who are reticent about online purchasing or digital communications to check out your webpage, ‘click’ and follow a QR code, or visit their own personalized landing page (PURLs). Print is an easy stepping stone that works in coordination with online marketing to guide interested customers into a more interactive realm of communication and commerce. At the same time, print will reinforce your brand and online message in a concrete way.

With variable data printing (VDP), print is more user-friendly than ever. It speaks to each recipient in your database individually. From the printed contact, lead them to respond with more information about themselves and their interests, either online or by mail. With that information you have enriched your database and can target each customer in an even more personal way — trackable, multitouch, measurable results from your marketing dollars.

 

Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

 

Supercharge Direct Mail with Variable Data Printing

Man receiving mail

Direct Mail works. Direct Mail with variable data works even better. And to the surprise of many it works more effectively than most email marketing efforts. The reason why says a lot about both the nature of email/web ads and the benefits of smart direct mail print marketing.

Many people’s first impression of “blast” email marketing was that it would save print production costs and revolutionize campaign strategy. What prevented that sea-change however is basic human nature. Most people ignore – even sometimes resent – unsolicited email messages, and easily overlook banner ads or website advertising, especially if it is not accurately customized to their personal interests. Direct mail has long been a staple in reaching a target audience and producing results. Personalizing the message on direct mail through variable data printing (VDP) can increase ROI even more –  anywhere from double the normal return to 10-to-15 times! And the best part is that it works even better when you get creative with the possibilities – use VDP in a way that is unique to your clientele and needs. Think of VDP as much more than just someone’s first name on the front of the card. For example: if you own a pizza place, you could collect personalized data from customers in house with a survey card – then mail each customer a coupon for the specific pizza they said they enjoyed most, vastly increasing the likelihood of their return over just a generic coupon that goes out to all customers. In this way you begin to profile your customers buying habits, and can target your marketing efforts in a much more effective, powerful way. For a good overview of VDP, check out Adobe’s VDP Resource Center. Then call us and we’ll brainstorm some exciting VDP solutions for your marketing.

Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.