A Novel Approach To A Business Gift

I see lots of memorable ideas every day that are used as a business gift, or a Memory Hook, but every now and again, a new idea comes past my nose that stands out from the crowd, and idea that when used correctly could give the business a competitive advantage, now that’s what I call a ‘business gift’.

Wooden USB Memory Stick

This particular idea is an addition to our extensive range of USG Flash Drives, sometimes called Memory Sticks, and in this case, ’stick’ would be the right word. Literally made from sticks or twigs, these are amusing to look at when plugged into your computer, and could be a way of confirming your ECO policy.

There’s actually a range of these things called ‘Stick USB Flash Drives‘, all slightly different, but of course, all with a micro memory chip hidden inside.

USB Memory Sticks have been increasing in sales with my company, RT Promotions, for some time and its easy to see why. Small enough to slip into your wallet or purse, these stylish devices are an increasingly popular way to store data to carry around with you. Just pop it into the USB port of your PC, save your files, photos, Powerpoint presentation, or even your brochure and slip it into your pocket. It’s a great way to give a client or prospective client, your portfolio or brochure. It was in your pocket, now its in theirs, and best of all, you’ve given them a GIFT.

Why have a boring old standard shaped one when you can have a device that will ensure you are remembered? Remember, that’s why most of our clients are giving away business gifts, to ensure their customers remember them. Which gift are you most likely to remember? The unusual one right? Well if it works for you, it may well be right for your customers. So ask yourself the question, Do you want to spend money on a gift that will NOT get you a Return On Your Investment (ROI), or do you want to go win some business?

Good luck

Twitter Used Primarily By Under 40’s

When you look at the growth of social networking sites like Twitter, it’s certainly a phenomena you need to consider. Life used to be so much simpler didn’t it? Do the occasional press release, organise a company newsletter or magazine and circulate it to your database (no worries about spam or unsubscribe!!), whereas now, you have tons more plates to keep spinning.

Practically ALL of the businesses that I meet as MD of RT Promotions talk about networking, and social networking, both physically and the ever popular on-line style. Most, are a little daunted by the technology involved, the time it may take to contribute, the money it may consume, and some simply scared of getting involved, others see it as a fad.

Last week Forbes Insights, in association with Google, released a study showing that more than half of business executives under the age of 40 interact on micro-blogging platforms like Twitter.

The report, “The Rise of the Digital C-Suite: How Executives Locate and Filter Business Information,” showed that 32% of business executives under 40 read or generate microfeeds daily, and 24% do so several times a week. In total, 56% of Executives Under 40 Use Twitter and Micro-blogging.

 So…. it’s not a fad, and is not showing any signs of fading. With an audience as important as this, you simply MUST consider getting involved if you are in business.

By the way, if you’d like to follow me on Twitter, just follow this link. I call myself TheHooker because of the nature of this blog, ‘memory HOOK marketing’….. I hope you like it.

Which Style Of Networker Are You?

Everyone has an opinion on ‘networking’, and I’ve heard many definitions of what a networker is, but hadn’t heard about these four styles before.

Don Gabor is a professional speaker and the author of eight books on communication skills, including ‘How to start a conversation and make friends’. He has identified four different styles of succesful networkers.

1: Competitive Networkers
2: Outgoing Networkers
3: Amiable Networkers
4: Analytical Networkers

More details of each in my next post……

The Next BIG Thing?

 

baked beans microwave

How crazy is this?

It seems that Heinz are testing this little desktop microwave with a view to bringing it to the market.  It’s a fantastic image and concept, and of course works really well with the brand its its concept of quick and easy food, BUT, would you really want to plug this into your PC at your desk??

It’s Memory Hook Marketing from the dark side I reckon!!

Is the use of ‘wood’ ECO Friendly?

ECO Friendly Bamboo

Promotional Gifts are made from a variety of materials, including wood, and in todays climate of eco-friendliness, my business, RT Promotions is  sometimes asked if this use of wood is good for the planet. Our response to that question will vary from product to product, and will invariably depend on the source material being used. Bamboo is a good case in point with an ever-increasing range of promotional gifts being made available to the marketplace that are manufactured from this source. So, why bamboo, and is it an ECO Friendly product? 

Why use Bamboo at all?
Bamboo is rapidy-renewable, restoring itself for fresh use in just five years, and requires far less energy to harvest and produce than most ‘lumber’ products. Bamboo also has an incredible range of product from flooring to cabinetry, drapery, furniture and in our case, promotional products. It’s production and by products yield healthy salvageable materials that continue to be used in new ways.

It’s Beautiful
The delicate grain of bamboo, whether natural or amber-toned, makes it a distinctive, elegant and subtle material for use with promotional gifts.

It’s Strong
Bamboo can withstand a great deal of use without damage. It’s stronger even than the famous British Oak, considered to be the most durable of hardwoods, yet when laminated, bamboo is nearly as strong as soft steel. Bamboo doesn’t swell or shrink as much as hardwoods do.

It Grows Fast
Bamboo is not a tree – it’s a grass, and it grows like it!!Many species of bamboo can grow two foot or more in a day. When it’s harvested, it need not be replanted because it will grow a new shoot from its extensive root system. Bamboo thus renews itself readily, unlike hardwood trees, which once cut, are gone forever. Bamboo is an endlessly renewable resource.

It Enhances the Environment
Farmed bamboo stabilizes the earth with its roots, preventing erosion. It takes in greenhouse gasses and produces oxygen at a collossal rate, in fact, 35% more oxygen is generated by bamboo than from an equivalent stand of trees. It can also provide habitat for birds and animals.

It’s World-Wide and Historic
Our Bamboo comes from China, but bamboo is so adaptable it will grow on most places on the planet. Wherever it is native, bamboo has been integral to the economy and culture, and uis used for cooking, beverages, paper, houses and bridges. In China, it’s known as the “friend of the people”.

Left Handies

Unique Branded Pens

I was in talks with a client just the other week, when they asked if my company, RT Promotions, could supply promotional branded ballpens for left-handed people. It threw me for a moment, and then I gathered my thoughts.

His point was simple, and the solution was simpler still. Let me explain.

Go get hold of a promotional pen. You must have loads in your pen pot or drawer…. any of them will do, as long as it has someones brand, logo or message on it. Done that? Got one?

Hold it in your right hand as though you are going to write with it. You’l see that the logo reads correctly, its the right way up. Now do the same thing in your left hand. The whole thing is upside down isn’t it?

This was his simple point. If he branded his pens all the same way, they wouldn’t work for a left handed person, whereas, and here’s the solution, if you branded some of them with the message/logo spun through 180 degrees or inverted, then it would work perfectly well for left handed people. You DONT need to buy a special pen, you simply need to place your artwork onto the pen slightly differently from the right handed pen.

How Best To Use A Promotional Gift

Richard Mack

For many of my clients, buying and then using a promotional gift is NOT a regular occurance. Some in fact, only buy branded giveaways for their yearly trade shows, or sales conferences. I often see or hear about the usual ‘mistakes’ being made.

Think about it. Cast your mind back to the last Trade Show you visited. While wondering around the show, how many promotional products did you see? Loads I bet, in fact, I’d bet that practically every exhibitor had branded giveaways….. but, how many had simply left them strewn across their reception counter area, or hospitality desk. You could just breeze up, grab a pen and walk away couldn’t you?

Do you think that this example demonstrates effective use of a promotional gift? I hope not!!!

But it’s not their fault. They are used to promoting their businesses, but not used to how to be effective with a promotional gift. That’s where my assistance is invaluable. If you think you could benefit from my hints and tips, why not sign up for my FREE weekly newsletter giving you advice and guidance on stuff that I know a great deal about?

How ECO-Friendly Are You?

Do you present your company ‘by the numbers’? Is it a case of, “this is how we’ve always done it”  or “we need to stay on-message”?

I say, let your customers see the ‘real you’ at every opportunity.

Lets take your policy and company ethos on ‘recycling’ for example. Many companies have a policy, but how many take the time to let their clients and customers in on the message?

ECO Friendly Desk Staplers

If you are keen to promote your business and to stay in touch with your clients and prospects, what better way then by using a promotional gift? A simple giveaway item, branded and personalised with your corporate logo or message is a highly effective way to ensure you are REMEMBERED. It should appeal to as many of the ’senses’ as possible, certainly touch and see, but how many more can you cram in? And then, why not use the same gift to remind people what a fabulous, caring company you are?

The simple stapler I have shown you above is ‘ECO Friendly”. Why? Because it doesn’t use metal staples (bad for the environment), but simply crimps the paper together. They are colourful, and when personalised will act as a powerful ‘Memory Hook’ to remind everyone about your business.

Tell Your Customers How ECO Friendly Your Business Is

Are you telling your clients how ECO Friendly your business is?
I don’t necesarily mean that in a literal sense, you’d probably start to get on their nerves if you harped on about your environmental values all the time, what I mean is, are you adding a soft-touch message to everything you do, and specifically, your use of promotional products where there are massive opportunities for you to subtly raise awareness of your policies.

Recycled Promotional Pencils

ECO Friendly promotional giveaways and gifts are the fastest growth area of the promotional gift market here in the UK, and YOUR business should consider ‘why’ that is happening. The reason my clients, here at RT Promotions, are purchasing more and more recycled or ECO friendly branded items is simple. They are going to buy a promotional item anyway, so why not purchase one that carries an additional, subtle message?

Showing your potential customers that you care about these environmental issues doesn’t have to be difficult. Some of my clients are now using pencils instead of pens, and where possible, going for recycled pencils like this one.  Don’t forget to TELL people what you are doing, perhaps with a message on the pencil that says “I was made from 4.5 recycled vending machine cups“. You’re going to promote yourself in any case, so why not do it with a powerful message that will appeal to an increasing number of your prospects?

Techie Promotional Gifts

If I have a mantra, I guess its, “Don’t buy a promotional gift that appeals to YOU, buy one that will appeal to your target market”.

As owner of RT Promotions, when meeting with clients, time and time again, I try to hold them back (its usually the bosses that are worst) who are buying promotional giveaways simply because they think the item is cool. They want one, so they think it’ll be a great idea to use them as a gift to promote their business. WRONG!!!!

You have to get into your prospective customers heads. You must think as they do, and appeal to their senses with your gift. Let me put it this way, a man may think that the latest sprocket and screwdriver kit is a really neat thing, he’d love to have one, but would he then buy one as a gift for his wife? Of course not (unless of course this was an unusual woman that loves DIY). There will always be exceptions, and this week, that’s excatly what happened to me.

I was with the board of directors of a leading ‘techie’ company. They were looking for a quality gift to give to their high-end customers as a ‘thank you’ and also to use as a ‘memory hook’ gift for some of their prospective customers. After lots of discussion, they settled on this new USB Flash Drive thats funky, colourful and slightly ‘out there’.

Liquid Filled USB Flash Drive

It jumped out at them, they LOVED it, they wouldn’t put the sample down, and kept playing with it. Can we have the liquid in our corporate colour? Yes you can. Can we put our logo inside as the floating object? Yes you can. Can we have a 2GB version as well as a 1GB version, all personalised and branded to our own requirements? Yes you can. These guys were enthralled, there was going to be no stopping them buying into this as a Branded Promotional Gift. But, you know what? I didn’t need to. This was a rare example of the client being in the same market and mind-set as their customers. If they liked it, there was a really good chance that their clients would as well.

Win – Win then.