|
Thursday
October 30, 2008 Talk to Your Clients Now About the EconomyFiled under: Community, Education, Guest Blog
Back in 1992, when Bill Clinton ran for president, his campaign slogan was “It’s the economy, stupid!” Sure enough, 16 years later, most of us would agree that the current economic climate is #1 on our minds. All you need to do is turn on the TV for five minutes and you can’t help but notice stories of instability in our financial markets, unemployment rates on the rise and stock market highs and lows that make the biggest roller coaster at Six Flags seem tame. Last week on CAPPAChat we posted a survey to our readers about how the economy is affecting business. The answers were unsettling, but not unsurprising – 100% of people said the economy is affecting their business and 88% think that this crisis will carry over into 2009. Where does this leave us? Many companies are looking for ways to “trim the fat” and the first place they look is the marketing budget. The mentality is “we can live without marketing for six months, but we can’t live without paying salaries.” If we take a minute to examine this theory, we quickly realize that it’s flawed from the start. In economic downturns the last thing you want to quit doing is marketing, because if you quit marketing for six months three things happen: 1) You loose brand momentum, recognition and loyalty, 2) Sales drop, and 3) After brand momentum, recognition and loyalty fly out the window, your sales are down and guess what…you can’t make your payroll, stupid! If I had a perfect formula for fixing this problem let’s just say that I’d probably be spending my days in the lap of luxury. What I can give you are a few tips and tricks that have worked for us:
Many of us are 1-2 people companies and sometimes you feel like you’re an island unto yourself. If you’re wondering where to go to ask questions and get advice like this, network with your suppliers to build lasting relationships, keep up with the latest on the industry via education, attend tradeshows and bounce ideas off of your peers…the answer could be within your regional promotional products association. Post a comment now or email me at jennifer@360promos.com, and be sure to check out the blog for the Corridor Area Promotional Products Association, at www.cappachat.com.
Thursday
October 23, 2008 Invest in Technology While Riding the Roller CoasterFiled under: Education, Industry Initiatives, News About ASI The news and editors at our magazines and on our ASI Internet Radio show are keeping us updated about the latest economic and market changes – with ups-and-downs like a roller coaster – and many of us may be wondering what the next year is going to look like. We’ve recently made huge investments to continue upgrading our products and services, so that they can start working together more seamlessly and so you can spend less time running your business and more time selling. We’re looking at ways that ESP Online, LogoMall websites and other electronic products can communicate with each other better and become part of a one-stop-shop package, for instance. Also, we’ve made the following staff promotions to strengthen ASI’s technology department: Keith Tuskey is now the chief technology officer; John Bush (who you may recognize from trainings at ASI Shows) is now vice president of product management; and Alex Belotserkovskiy has become vice president of application development. You can learn about their backgrounds in their press releases, at asicentral.com/pressroom. Our investments in these technology leaders, who have very talented teams, shows our commitment to provide the best upgrades and industry-leading products and services as a part of your ASI membership. As a matter of fact, often your investment in ASI membership pays for itself as you grow your business with our tools. Is your roller coaster going up or down today? How are you using technology, or what are you doing otherwise, to become more efficient? I want to know – post a blog comment or email me at tim.andrews@asicentral.com.
Wednesday
October 8, 2008 Learning From Startups, Wearables Trends and Rising PricesFiled under: Education, Members, News About ASI, Using Ad Specialties ASI was the winner of four national awards for editorial and design from FOLIO: magazine recently, recognizing coverage in our magazines of wearables trends, rising prices, and challenges running successful startups – among other topics important to your business right now. In addition, the June issue of Wearables (Nicole Rollender, editor), received a Gold Award for ‘Best B-to-B Full Issue’ and was selected for covering the latest apparel trends, including underwear and five different categories of novelty T-shirts. And, the article “Damage Control,” by Michele Bell in Supplier Global Resource, won a Silver Award for ‘Best Feature Writing’ and was chosen for providing information about handling potentially toxic products and what the ethical responsibilities for testing are. I urge you to read each of the magazine issues – because they are packed with information that is likely affecting how you’re selling products to customers right now or running your business at the moment. To read the winning articles, click here. In the FOLIO: competition, more than 100 judges reviewed 2,800 entries and magazines from ASI were recognized among several legacy publications throughout North America, including Fast Company, National Geographic, Newsweek and TIME. Tell me what you think – post a comment now on the blog or email me at tim.andrews@asicentral.com. You can also watch my videos of new products, at youtube.com/timasitv. |
