Momay's Blog

by: Tina Rinaudo

When it comes to promotional items, there is a limited amount of space for what you get imprinted. When you think of the common promotional items you see, like pens, water bottles and baseball type caps, what you place onto the promotional items needs to remain focused and informative enough to draw customers to your door. Of course, items like notebooks, conference folders and key rings that are often passed out at expos and meetings can have quite a bit more information on them.

Things that you can use to determine what you imprint on your promotional items:

1. What the items are

2. Where you will be distributing these items

3. Who will be picking up these items

A common misconception is that a business can just print anything on items for anyone. This won’t be an effective way to advertise. For example, if you are distributing promotional items to a community of retirees who have very little computer experience and the item only has a web address on it…you will get very few new customers! However, distribute something with a phone number on it and your phone may begin to ring off the hook!

Don’t think of promotional items as you would newspaper advertising, either. You will never be able to fit that much information on the typical promotional product.

Things that you can consider placing on promotional items:

1. Company name – this should be placed on a promotional item first and foremost. Although logos are often well known and can easily be recognized, for a younger business a logo may mean nothing to many people. A company name will be easily located in business phone directories, as well.

2. Company logo – if you have a logo, having some kind of graphic on your promotional items to break up the print is often effective and draws the eye.

3. Company phone number or website address – here is where you need to determine your audience. With cell phones so common in today’s society, a phone number may be the better choice. When the promotional item has the space, you can consider adding both the phone number and the web address. (If you will be attending some kind of technology conference and distributing your promotional products there, you may choose the web address and have just as much success with it.)

4. Company address – this takes a lot of space and many promotional gifts just don’t have that kind of room. However, on items like bumper stickers, key rings, and conference folders, room is not that much of an issue and an address may draw customers right to your door!

Experiment with different items and different information each time you order promotional products. Find what works well and what doesn’t and keep using that information that brings you the most business.

For more information on promotional items, products and gifts check out some of the leading online suppliers today where you can tap into their wealth of experience to ensure that your next marketing campaign is well targeted and sets off on the right footing.

About The Author

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional products industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK's fastest growing online promotional items resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit www.yesgifts.co.uk.

by: Brian McQuirk

A new consumer phenomenon is called "tagging" or "folksonomies" (short for folks and taxonomy). Tagging is powerful because consumers are creating an organizational structure for online content. Folksonomies not only enable people to file away content under tags, but, even better, share it with others by filing it under a global taxonomy that they created.

Here's how tagging works. Using sites such as del.icio.us - a bookmark sharing site – and Flickr - a photo sharing site - consumers are collaborating on categorizing online content under certain keywords, or tags.

For instance, an individual can post photographs of their iPod on Flickr and file it under the tag "iPod." These images are now not only visible under the individual user's iPod tag but also under the community iPod tag that displays all images consumers are generating and filing under the keyword. Right now Flickr has more than 3,500 photos that are labeled "iPod."

Tagging is catching on because it is a natural complement to search. Type the word "blogs" into Google and it can't tell if you are searching for information about how to launch a blog, how to read blogs, or just what. Large and small sites alike are already getting on to the folksonomy train. They are rolling out tag-like structures to help users more easily locate content that's relevant to them.

Although tags are far from perfect, marketers should, nevertheless, be using them to keep a finger on the pulse of the American public. Start subscribing to RSS feeds to monitor how consumers are tagging information related to your product, service, company or space. These are living focus groups that are available for free, 24/7. Folksonomy sites can be also be carefully used to unleash viral marketing campaigns - with a caveat. Marketers should be transparent in who they are, why they are posting the link/photos and avoid spamming the services.

About The Author

Brian McQuirk
Webmaster and owner of http://www.pinp4u.com

 

Sales Overnight

by: Cliff Posey Jr

Do you have an Internet marketing strategy for your online business? You should. Internet marketing and Internet advertising, when done properly, can drive traffic to your website and practically double your sales overnight. In fact, advertising your site may be the only way for you to compete with larger, more established competitors.

While there are many different forms of Internet marketing strategy that you can employ, one of the easiest and most reliable forms is results tracking. When you track the results of your Internet advertising campaigns, you can quickly learn what works and what doesn't work. For obvious reasons, this method is much better than a random hit and miss advertising method, which can turn out to be quite costly, not to mention ineffective.

Of course, this form of Internet marketing strategy isn't anything new. Direct marketers have been using results tracking for years, and it can easily be adapted for the Internet. The key is to come up with a way to measure the results of Internet advertising accurately. If you're tracking is not accurate, there is little to no point in doing it.

To make sure their tracking results are accurate, many direct marketers use a trick known as split testing. Split testing uses a specific key or tracking device to associate a sale with the advertisement that produced the sale.

For example, in a print ad, the key or tracking device that may be used could be a specific phone number or extension. When a customer utilizes the number or extension, the marketer knows exactly which ad drove the customer to seek out the advertised product or service. If the same ad produced repeated sales, the marketer knows that the advertising is effective and worth doing again. On the other hand, if the ad didn't even produce enough sales to pay for the advertising, then the marketer knows not to try that again.

The same split testing method used by direct marketers can easily be adapted and incorporated into your Internet marketing strategy, allowing you to determine exactly how effective or ineffective your Internet advertising is.

To track the success and failure of Internet advertising, most Internet marketers typically use some sort of tracking software to associate the key with sales. A simple way to do this is to develop two web pages that feature two different ads. You can then track the sales results of each ad to see which worked best, and if necessary, adjust your Internet marketing strategy accordingly.

For example, let's say that on one of the pages, you received a total of 2,000 page views and 20 sales. This means that you have a success rate of one percent. Not bad. This is the average for both direct mail advertising and Internet advertising. Now that you have this information, you have statistics you can rely on. You can test other pages to see if they perform better or worse. You can also adapt the original pages to see if your changes have any effect on the sales outcome. For example, try adjusting headlines, graphics, text, and anything else you can think of. Then, compare the results of these changes to the original results.

After you have tested different variations of your Internet advertising, you can quickly determine exactly what works and what doesn't. Your Internet market strategy and any future advertising that you do can then be adjusted accordingly. If you succeed, you may be able to double your sales without throwing away good money over and over again on advertising that doesn't

About The Author

Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff Posey has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses.

Customers Laugh

by: Tina Rinaudo

Laughter is the best medicine in many situations. When you are feeling low, a good laugh will make you feel better. When you are happy, a funny item will allow you to share your happiness with everyone around you. As a business owner, why not make this easy for your customers? Give them funny promotional items to brighten their day and put a smile on their faces.

Some of the funniest promotional items on the market are little “logo bugs”. These funny, pom-pom animals and characters with the googly eyes will brighten up whatever area they are placed in. Since they are so cute and simple, a smile will certainly be found on every face reading the witty sayings on the attached mini-banners. So small and inexpensive, you can have them anywhere as a promotional tool for you business.

Another popular giveaway item that is fun for all ages is the yo-yo. Easily imprinted with your company name and logo, yo-yos can be given out at any function your company might be attending. Even when you have more sophisticated promotional items for the adults, you can provide these low cost yo-yos as promotional items for all the kids. Watch their faces light up as they try to use these toys to do tricks…or even just because they got a promotional item just for them.

Frisbees, boomerangs and other various “flyers” can also be wonderful and fun promotional items for the entire family. Available in a wide variety of colors and designs, these products can provide hours of entertainment and laughs. You can even have these products where pets are the focus, since many customers will enjoy having something they can use when they play with their pet.

The numerous stress toys available today can also be fun, in their own way. Usually made up in funny character shapes, these promotional gifts can be distributed to employees, as well as prospective customers. Even if they do not get an initial laugh, the fatigue and stress they do relieve can make it easier for those using them to smile and laugh later.

As with all promotional items, those that are “fun” and can make your customers laugh come in a wide range of prices, sizes and colours. Look around and find just the right fun promotional products for your business. You will certainly be able to find one or more that will fit into your promotional needs.

For more information on promotional items, products, corporate gifts or corporate items check out some of the leading online suppliers today where you can tap into their wealth of experience to ensure that your next marketing campaign is well targeted and sets off on the right footing.

Search through their online catalogues for fun, exciting and original promotional products for your next marketing campaign or trade show and request a 1hr quote from YesGifts to find out how easily and inexpensively you can advertise your business today. Don’t forget to check out their special offers and great deals on selected items.

About The Author

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional products industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK's fastest growing online promotional items resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit http://www.yesgifts.co.uk.

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