Your Ad Here...There...and Everywhere

Marketing comes in all shapes and sizes....all in the name of getting a business name or product in front of the customer.

One idea in advertising is where will your customer be when he or she realizes they need your product. Advertising industry thinking used to be that, behind the wheel, they were thinking of the next place to fill up, eat, sleep or visit. That's changed. Dramatically.

In our "modern" times, we're as likely to view the car as a mobile office as transportation. While multitasking while driving may be unhealthy and downright dangerous, it still is a fact, and advertisers are responding. But how to get their message to you?

They've tried radio - but the explosion of satellite commercial free radio, the popularity of non-commercial NPR type stations (KUOW FM is the the highest rated station in the greater Seattle market), and the ability to plug in your iPod into the car stereo diminsh that avenue.

Billboards are seen in most places as urban blight, and are restricted.

A few years back, a smart person in the industry realized that there is a lot of free space on the sides of vehicles - trucks and buses. So they started doing biollboards on the side of buses and large graphics on the sides of trucks...

But why stop there... as this article in today's NY Times points out.

Your Ad Here, on My S.U.V.? And You’ll Pay? - New York Times

Interested? Here's the link to FreeCarMedia to find out more...

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

We had a nice day here in the Puget Sound today. Mostly sunny, in the mid 70's, a nice breeze. So why would I be bringing up holiday music right now???

Because now is the time for prudent planners to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. Here at Perfect Impressions, we are ramping up for the season - reviewing corporate gift ideas, ways to say thank you to our clients and yours that will be memorable and meaningful.

You can wait until November to order these things (and many do...). But looking at these and taking them off your list now and save you headaches, time, and of course money.

Case in point - today's featured item: Birchcraft Greeting Cards. Corporate preprinted greeting cards are not my first suggestion for a way to make a meaningful statement to a customer, but they do make a great base to build off of. You can make the card unique by attaching it to a gift, or delivering it in a novel way - or even just by jotting in a note in your own handwriting inside. It says to your customer "I value our relationship enough to take the time to do this myself." On such little gestures are great partnerships built.



Right now, we're offering free envelope printing to anyone who places a greeting card order through September 30th. And, if you jump in before August 31st with your order, we'll take an additional 5% off your order.

Visit the link on our website and click on the Greeting Card button to visit our shop.

We'll have a lot more on holiday items in the coming weeks.

Coming up tomorrow - Some hints on successful networking and ways to break the ice...

State of the Market - USB Drives

One of the frustrating things I deal with in the Advertising Specialty industry is pricing.

Customers like yourselves always want to know what something costs. I would love to tell them. 95% of the time, I can.

One market segment, though, is almost impossible to price - electronics. The USB Flash Drive is a popular item, but because it is basically a chip in a fancy housing, pricing is always dependent on market conditions - and memory pricing is notoriously fickle (as in gas price fickle - wild swings for no apparant reason).

One of my suppliers, iClick, has decided to help me by providing me a weekly bulletin on pricing for their USB drives. They lock in the price for a set period of time (normally a week) and we get to see trends. It's a pretty neat tool, and I'll be sharing it with you every week.

iClick is a great company - lots of innovative products, a rgeat corporate attitude, and their location right here in the Seattle area makes it easy to ensure quality production and timely delivery.

Call me and we can discuss how their USB drives, or one of their other products may be a good piece as part of your overall marketing campaign.

Back to School

My daughter looked at me this morning and groaned. "Only two more weeks of freedom."

Of course, my own view is a bit different - more like the father that went dancing through the aisles in the Staples commercial from a few years back, as the strains of Perry Como singing "It's The Most Wonderful Time" played in the background.

After all, the start of school is a new beginning. New clothes, new school supplies. New chances to get stuffed into a locker.

Ah, good times.

So how can you take advantage of such good times?

One way would be to give customers something they need for their childrem. A new backpack might be a good way todo this, but we can also do custom imprinted pencils, folders, or peraps an insulated lunch sack? Like there from PerfectLine...

One other way would be to introduce a new product they could use, but which would be so cool tht everyone wants one. For example:

- A couple of years ago, that was the LIVESTRONG bracelet from Lance Armstrong. The debossed silicone bracelet has become ubiquitous, in as many colors as the rainbow.

- Last year, the USB thumb drive became the cool product. Share papers, phots, songs, etc...


Both of those are last year's ideas? This year's? How about a USB drive in a silcone bracelet!

Minimum quantities apply. Call for details.

Enjoy the weaher and have a good day...

Industry Insight: BIC Graphic branches out...

Friday afternoons have always intrigued me. Normal, things slow down as my customers prepare for the weekend. But because we're three hours behind the East Coast, I sometimes get interesting tidbits of e-mails.

What happens is companies make announcements after the closing bell on Wall Street. I've found these are often items that won't be perceived as a major triumph within the industry or by its analysts in the investing world.

By announcing it on Friday afternoon, the company is gambling that (a) it won't be commented upon by major business publications, and (b) that something big will happen over the weekend or on Monday morning that will push this bit of "old news" off to the side.

This is a successful strategy, by the - so much so that the present White House staff often employ it for announcements they know will be greeted at least skeptically and perhaps negatively.

An example of this is the following press release from a promotions industry e-mail list named PromoGram:


BIC Graphic USA Buys Atchison Products Inc.

Counselor Top 40 supplier BIC Graphic USA (asi/40480) has purchased industry supplier Atchison Products Inc. (asi/37210). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Atchison, formerly owned by Dolly Duffy, CEO, and Dan Fangman, president, were the winners of Counselor's 2007 Supplier Entrepreneur of the Year award. The couple purchased the business in 1990 and have recently seen steady 20% annual revenue growth. Atchison reported $15 million in sales for 2006 while BIC saw revenue growth of 3% to $174 million last year.


BIC, a supplier of business products including writing instruments, sticky notes and magnets, has added a line of totes, coolers and backpacks through the purchase.

In an exclusive interview with Promogram, Duffy said that she was not looking for a buyer when she was approached by BIC. "My first reaction was, 'we're not for sale' -- but then we listened to them and realized what they could offer us that we didn't have, such as a marketing department and a huge customer base we can have access to."

Jack Teague, president of BIC Group Graphic, was traveling when the announcement was made today, but said in a prepared statement, "The imprinted bag segment offers tremendous growth opportunity."


The deal is tentatively set to be signed on 8/31.

Duffy and Fangman will stay on with the company and all Atchison manufacturing will remain in Atchison, KS.

If BIC thought this was a great move, it would have been an early morning announcement, rather than buried at 6 pm on Friday.

Can't say I blame them. While this may bring a new revenue stream to the corporation, the acquired product line (coolers and backpacks) isn't a natural fit into their existing product mix.

By the way, if you didn't know, BIC is indeed one of my Preferred Suppliers, meaning I can get preferential pricing for my customers. Give me a call for a custom Bic pen.

Have a good weekend. Stay safe! - Don

New Product of the Day: Shoe Charms

Now I'll be the first to admit, I don't know much about Crocs. I've seen them everywhere lately, in a myriad of colors. They seem especially popular at my daughter's swim practice as deck shoes around the pool.

Where I see funny looking shoes, others of a more artistic bent see a blank canvas. Hence, the shoe charm. And since we in the advertising specialty industry know a good thing when we see them, we present:

THE CUSTOM SHOE CHARM!!

Bottom line: This would be a good item for supporting a local team, or as a fundraiser for a school group. Since it's custom, we can use our "imagination!"

Stay safe out there. - Don

Giveaways versus Promotions

One of the most important lessons I can teach a customer is the difference between a Giveaway and a Promotion. They may seem like the same thing, but they are very different - and the difference is results.

A Giveaway is just that - something your company or organization gives away. While that may get your name in front of your customer, it may just as likely end up in a drawer somewhere. For example, if an auto dealer orders 1000 keychains, that's a giveaway. It may get the auto dealer's name into the hands of a potential customer, but that's it.

A Promotion, however, is a different beast entirely. It is designed to entice and compel the recipient by including a specific call to action. It includes layers of action, and produces a measurable result.

Using the auto dealer example, what if instead of the just a keytag, it included a key as well? Make the key part of the mailing, and have it say

"Bring this key to our dealership with 30 days (or some other specific time frame). If it opens the door to our new 2008 Whizzer (or whatever car they choose), you win a prize."

The prize can be a travel mug, a dashboard cell phone holder, or even that car itself, depending on the budget of the company. You can even add secondary incentives such as:

"Everyone who visits and takes a test drive received a custom auto back seat organizer (or a CD holder)."

"Everyone who purchases a car during this promotion receives a pair of custom driving gloves (or a $100 gas card)."

The idea is to compel the actions you desire, and to be able to measure the results. The dealer would know how many people would visit from this promotion by the number of keys returned for a prize, and by also tracking test drives and sales, can then evaluate the success of this program.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about the different questions you need to answer when planning a promotion. Until then, have a great day.

Welcome to our window on the world of Promotions!

Welcome to our new home on the web! At Perfect Impressions, we're always looking for different ways to spread the message to our clients and friends about the power of promotion. This blog is our newest tool for that.

In here, we'll share all sorts of information with you:

• Successful ideas that others have used to promote their businesses
• New products available to you
• Seasonal specials and sales on products you may already use.
• New services we've added to serve your business better.

All of this with our dedication to personal service that is the hallmark of our company.

We invite you to take a look around and try us out for a bit. Your comments are always welcome, of course, and if you have a more direct question, please feel free to e-mail us right away.

So again, welcome to our newest project - and thanks for letting us be of service to you again!

Don