Feeling A Bit Sentimental

I was just reminded that we are coming up on an anniversary in a few days. One of our long-time customers out in Texas just called to order his 2011 promotional calendars and reminded me that he had been buying these from us every year for the past 11 years. 11 years is a long time to do anything and we truly appreciate his loyalty.

WE LOVE YOU, GARY!

On August 15, 2011 we will celebrate our 14th year in business. They say that time flies when you're having fun, so this must be work! ;^) We - you and I and this country - have been through a lot over those years. My youngest was just starting kindergarten in 1997. She is now a sophomore at college while her sisters have both graduated and begun their post-daddy lives. I now have a son-in-law and a grandson. Somehow, though, my wife is just as beautiful, talented and smart as she was then, while I ... well, let's be kind and just say that I am not.

Over the years, things have gone up and things have gone down. The Dow Jones Industrial average on January 1, 1997 was 6448.30. The average price of a gallon of unleaded that year was $1.23 and gold averaged $331 per ounce. In contrast, the yield on the 10 year US Treasury Bond began 1997 at 6.58% while the average interest rate on a 30 year conventional mortgage was around 7.6%.

It's a funny thing. I can't remember how old I am, but I can remember our first order. It was for business card sized refrigerator magnets for a florist. In our first 6 months of business existence, we served 16 customers. All of them either knew me in a former life, or met me when I walked into their place of business and asked for a moment of their time. Over the next 13 and a half years 6 of those customers sadly closed their doors, changed professions or moved far away (remember, Al Gore's internet had not yet become commonplace!). Of the remaining 7, 1 has changed ownership (and apparently their promotional products distributor) while 6 are still currently active customers.

WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

We stopped using calculators and columnar pads to keep our books in 1998. (Yes, I still have ours from 1997)

Our e-commerce web site went live in 1999.

Our nation was attacked and has been fighting back on 3 fronts since 2001. God bless our troops.

We have have served thousands of customers over the years, including 14 who placed their first order with us this year. Our new customers found us either by internet search, or they met me at a networking event, or they were referred by a satisfied customer. By the way, we reward referrals! Looking back, 9/11 has made door-to-door sales very difficult. The internet has made door-to-door sales almost unnecessary.

What does all this mean? We love our customers. We work hard to make them happy. We remember their names and their preferences. We return phone calls and answer emails. We want to be sure that their promotion or their event goes off successfully, without a hitch - at least our part of it. We work with them to find the right product at the right price and get it delivered on time...year after year after year.

Steve

Choosing the Right Promotional Product (Step 3)

Here is our list of questions we must answer when choosing the perfect promotional item:

1) What do we want to happen?

2) How will we measure success or failure?

3) What is our target demographic?

4) How will we deliver the item?

5) How much can we spend?

6) How quickly do we need the product delivered?

Taking Aim

We have discussed what we want to happen as a result of our promotional campaign and how we will determine if we are successful. Now a little bit on the target. In many cases, the people receiving the promotional products and the products' targets are not the same. Banks, police and fire departments, medical providers and most non-profit organizations have become quite adept at this sort of indirect approach. Advertising balloons or coloring books featuring a popular theme with the organization logo prominently displayed are generally not handed out with the hope of the child opening a bank account or making a donation, but can help influence the parent to do so.

If you are giving an anti-drug presentation to a classroom of pre-teens or you are participating in a "Career Day" at the local high school, your promotional products can be handed to the student who will carry them home and end up influencing the parent later that day.

You know your prospects better than we do. Imagine where your prospect is when he or she realizes that they need your product or service. Are they at their desk, in their kitchen, in their car or are they somewhere else? The most effective product we can offer to them - the one that will have an impact on them in that place at that time - is one that is in their vision at that moment.

Say, for example, you own a pizza place and want to increase deliveries to a neighborhood nearby. The neighborhood is made up mostly of young commuters who arrive home in the evening hungry and tired from their work and commute. They open the refrigerator and think to themselves, “There is nothing here I want to go to the trouble of cooking” They close the refrigerator and see the magnet from Donato’s Pizza holding up their To Do List, and Donato's Delivers! No looking through the phone book. No need to go online to find a restaurant. No need to find the newspaper to see who has a special. No need to cook or to drive! Just call Donato's.

One of the strengths of promotional products is their endurance. Check out your refrigerator. I still have a magnet given to me by a real estate agent with a 1999 calendar on it!

Steve Raggo

www.raggo.com