by Dustin
Promotional products are a great way to get your brand or message out to the public. By investing in promotional products, you can create a lasting impression with potential customers and increase brand awareness. Promotional products can also be used as giveaways or gifts to thank customers for their business or loyalty. With so many benefits, it’s easy to see why promotional products are a great investment for any business. Here are just 5 reasons how promotional products can benefit your business
Increased Brand Awareness
Promotional products offer a great way to increase brand awareness for your business. By giving out promotional products with your logo, you can make sure that your target audience remembers your brand. This can be especially useful if you are trying to increase your customer base or reach a new demographic.
Cost-Effective
Promotional products are extremely cost-effective. You can get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to promotional products. You can find promotional products for a wide range of budgets, allowing you to get the most out of your advertising dollars.
Builds Relationships
Promotional products can be used to build relationships with customers. By giving out promotional products, you can show your customers that you appreciate their business and that you value their loyalty. This can lead to customers continuing to do business with you in the future.
Generates Leads
Promotional products can also be used to generate leads. By giving out promotional products, you can introduce potential customers to your brand and encourage them to take action. This can be a great way to capture leads and increase your sales.
Long-Lasting
Promotional products are long-lasting. Unlike other forms of advertising, promotional products can be kept and used for a long time. This makes them an effective way to reach potential customers and keep your brand top-of-mind.
Promotional products offer a wide range of benefits for businesses. From increasing brand awareness to generating leads, promotional products can be an effective way to reach potential customers and build relationships with existing customers. Investing in promotional products can be a great way to get the most out of your advertising budget.
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by Kirby Hasseman
We have all been to the small business that has been burned too many times. They have a new handwritten sign, it seems, for each customer infraction. The signs range from “No shoes. No Shirt. No Service” to announcing to the world that they “no longer accept checks.” Some small businesses get a bit carried away until their wall is papered with things their customer is not allowed to do for fear of tasing! As an entrepreneur myself, I understand. You sometimes get tired of being taken advantage of, and you want to make sure people know it.
But it’s important to be conscious of the message we are truly sending.
Especially now, as companies, stores and restaurants get ready to open to the public again, it’s important to consider the question “What message are you sending?” As business owners, we have been anxious about getting back open again. We might be frightened what will happen if we can’t get back to business. But we must remember that part of our audience is scared too. They are wondering if it’s safe to go back out…and you need to consider what message you are sending to them!
Is It Safe To Come in?
If a customer decides to come back to your business, are you showing them that you are ready? Do you have information displayed that explains how you are going to keep them safe? Do you have signs on the wall or stickers on the floor that discuss the idea of staying 6 feet apart? You might be thinking “They already know that,” and you would be right. But subconsciously (at the very least) they might be asking if you know it. Have the correct protocols in place show them that you do. That is the reason I think masks matter. I talk about that here.
Do They Really Want Me In?
Now is also a great time to look at your entrances and behind the counter of your businesses. Is everything necessary? Does your signage look welcoming? Does it look like I really want business to come in the door? We all have seen our businesses so many times that we stop seeing what it looks like. Now is the perfect time to look at it with fresh eyes. This is a chance to treat customers as if they are coming for the first time. What do you want them to see?
I am excited to get “back to work” as a country. I am sure you are too.. Now we just need to ensure we are doing it right…so we can keep everyone safe and working! If you enjoyed this, please check out our blog page for more content. And now is a great time to brush up on your marketing skills. Sign up for our (FREE) 5 Day Marketing Course here.
by Kirby Hasseman
At Hasseman Marketing, we have several goals. You may have heard this one: We want to Deliver Marketing Joy! We are committed to making your marketing (and the creation and purchase of it) fun! In addition, our goal is to become full-service. We want to become the Premier Marketing and Media company in Ohio. That’s a lofty goal. But having goals like that help us think about the company we want to become. What do we want to accomplish? How do we want to serve? It’s actually what drove us to start OhiosHeart.com. And now it’s driven us to take another bold new step. Hasseman Marketing has invested in a new Production Printer! Though we have always “offered” print as a part of our services, we have needed to outsource it. That’s been fine. But we feel it needs to be more of a sincere focus if we want to truly be full-service to help our clients achieve their sales and marketing goals. The reality is, our clients already trust us with their brand. Why not take this next step so they don’t have to trust anyone else? This in house print solution is now a reality with Hasseman Marketing…and we are fired up about it! What does this mean for you? The simple answer is, if you are a client of Hasseman Marketing, we can service all of your needs. So if you need a marketing video, a t-shirt or a printed piece, we have your back. And from our perspective, if you are thinking about doing business with Hasseman Marketing, a print job might be a great way to test us out! What kind of print? That’s a tough one because the list is a long one. But here are just a few things you can consider printing with us. Business Cards Flyers Greeting Cards Postcards Envelopes Postcards Posters Menus You get the idea. If you want to print it, talk to us. For more information, please talk to your HMC rep. Don’t have one? Email us here and we can hook you up! Thanks for indulging us with this blatant self promotion on the blog! Let us know how we can help! Want to make sure you never miss an update? Now is a great time to sign up for the VIP newsletter. It’s just one email per week…with all of the content in one place. Sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Welcome to our awesome blog post series for Hasseman Marketing called:
“Brand-ecdotes!”
Each time, we talk to a branding all star about what makes the Promotional Product advertising media so special! This time we talk with the Grand Poubah of PPAI, Paul Bellantone! Paul is not only an industry rock star, but he is tasked with keeping the industry moving in the right direction. We sincerely appreciate him taking the time!
1. What is your all-time favorite Promotional Product and why?
A rubber jar opener. See below.
2. Can you name a Promo Product that you have that STILL reminds you fondly of an event, person, organization? If so, can you tell us that story?
While I no longer have the original rubber jar opener whenever I see or use one I think of H. Ted Olson, former President & CEO of PPAI. He was my predecessor’s predecessor. I was running a tradeshow in Guadalajara, Mexico in the mid 1990s and Ted introduced himself to me with a firm handshake, a smile and then pulled a rubber jar opener with a PPAI logo out of his jacket pocket. I originally thought to myself, “What an odd thing to give someone in the middle of a tradeshow in Guadalajara.” What I didn’t know then was that one day I would be running the organization he was promoting on the jar opener. And the act of giving a simple promotional product made such impact that I would be writing about it 30 years later!
3. What is the current product you use all the time?
I have a very classy, simple, brown leather Andrew Philips backpack I received as a gift for speaking at the Imagen Brands National Sales Meeting. It has PPAI embossed on it and it has become my constant travel companion.
4. What is an idea/product that you think organizations UNDER use?
Research. There is such powerful and useful research supporting the power of promotional products. It is important that we share this clear, measurable and meaningful data as a differentiator between promotional products and other advertising media with our customers and buyers.
5. What do you think is the best thing about Promotional Products as an advertising media?
It is the only advertising media people say “thank you” to the advertiser and want more of.
Amazing! That’s another awesome edition of Brand-ecdotes! Thanks to President of PPAI, Paul Bellantone, for taking the time to jump in!
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by Kirby Hasseman
Welcome to a super awesome blog post series for Hasseman Marketing called:
“Brand-ecdotes!”
Each week we will talk to a branding all star about what make the Promotional Product advertising media so special!
This week we talk to Charity Gibson! Charity wears quite a few hats in the Promo industry. She has been on both the distributor and supplier side of the business (and is now with Peerless Umbrella). She is a social media rock star! And she is on the PromoKitchen board as well! Take it away Charity!
1. What is your all-time favorite Promotional Product and why? For a long time, my favorite promotional product was the old-school viewmaster. The nostalgia factor played a big part inthat one because I know a large demographic of people had one as a child, have a positive feeling about it, and can relate to the product. My sales pitch was that a company could have these made with their logo and it would stay on the recipient’s desk because of novelty, but then each month they could send out new reels that would have a special for that month, new product info, and any other message they wanted to send, but these sales could only be viewed by putting the reel into the toy. In my mind, it was the perfect way to get people excited about seeing sales flyers. Since then, however, my mind has been focused on more practical products. There is one product I use and subsequently see every single day, and that is my PhoneLoop from EMT. My phone, or phones I should say – I carry three, are with me 24 hoursa day. My PhoneLoop has saved my phone from so many drops I can’t even count, and keeps it clean because I can hang it on hooks in bathrooms when I’m out and not carrying a purse. 
My good friend Brian Stidham gave me a random sample at a tradeshowand I had that first PhoneLoop for over a year. I only recently changed it out because I ended up getting some done as a self-promo for Peerless. People carry umbrellas when they will be in the sun for an extended period of time, or when it’s raining. Umbrellas really do make amazing billboards and our Peerless branded, EMT made PhoneLoops share this story every time people pick up their phone, which is on average, 62 times a day or something ridiculous like that. 2. Can you name a Promo Product that you have that STILL reminds you fondly of an event, person, organization? If so, can you tell us that story? A promotional product has to be really freakin’ cool for me to keep it. Consequently, I don’t actually have very many around my house. One that I not only love, but paid retail for, is a photo keepsake from Lego Land. My fiance and my daughter haven’t always gotten along, especially while we are on vacations. On this particular occasion a few years back, we were at Lego Land and, just to be defiant, my daughter claimed she was scared to go on most of the rides. It made for a very long day. Finally toward the end of the day, however, she loosened up and went on a few of the smaller roller coasters.On one ride she said she would be more comfortable with Damon sitting in the coaster car with her so that he could make sure she didn’t fall out. I was both surprised and delighted by this turn of events. When we exited the ride, they of course had the photos lined up. Not only was the photo they snapped totally hilarious because I look like I’m praying – maybe for them to start getting along – but they handed me a photo frame and showed me a virtual sample on the screen of what our photo would look like on this neat lego creation. The stand is made of lego bricks and then the photo itself is printed on a wall of lego bricks so you could, if you wanted, take it apart and rebuild it. $40 some odd dollars later, that frame is one of the few pictures I’ve got displayed on my office bookcase. It is super cute and seriously clever. 
Bravo to whoever thought that one up! Bonus: Damon and K are getting along MUCH better now. I feel like maybe it’s time to take that trip again so we can actually enjoy ourselves and I can get another frame with a new lego figure on it to add to the collection. Ha! 3. What is the current product you use all the time? See question one. 🙂 4. What is an idea/product that you think organizations UNDER use? In general, all promotional products are under used. Even within our own industry, both distributors and suppliers fail to use our medium to attract and retain clients. We cold call, email blast, and use social media when really, we should be using the products at our disposal to be our own best case study. Sure you can use social media and email to enhance your promo efforts and amplify your message by sharing photos, etc., but as promo people we should really work to always think promo first. Second to that, I don’t think there is any one product that is underused as much as the imprint and/or imprint area is mis or under utilized.We often forget that we can print anything on these products. We can print a marketing message, statement, QR code, or a picture. It doesn’t have to be a logo. Also, the number one thing I see missing frompromo product projects is a call to action. We have an incredible opportunity to use this space to give people a directive. Incentivize them to engage with your brand. Encourage them to visit a website or connect and/or engage with social your social media accounts.Nine times out of ten, if you ask people to do something and give them a good enough reason to do it, they will. Whatever product you choose, use the imprint area to make that product really work overtime. It will be more effective, make a bigger impact, showa lower cost per impression, and turn a bigger ROI. 5. What do you think is the best thing about Promotional Products as an advertising media? I love that promotional products are the tangible realization of someone’s dream coming true. That might just be the best thing about them. It can be something as simple as a business card or pen, but when you dream of opening a company, take the steps to make it happen, create the logo and lay the foundation, put in the hard work of getting ready to do business, and then you open that first box of promo and see your logoon whatever it is, that’s a very special moment. In that moment, you realize you did it, and you have the pen in your hand with your logo on it to prove it. Promotional products have the power to stir emotion, drive people to action, and be kept or passed on for years to come. Can your billboard ad or tv commercial do that? Didn’t think so ?
And…that’s the another edition of Brand-ecdotes! Thanks to Charity Gibson for taking the time to jump in on this brand new project!
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