how to use promotional products

2 Reasons You Should Use Emojis in Brand Marketing

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When it comes to communication, I’m an impatient person. Voicemail takes too long and email often requires too much effort. Like most people I know between the ages of 12 and 70, text messaging is the go-to method for communicating- with co-workers, friends, family and (sadly) the person in the next room. Enter the EMOJI.

“Emojis help companies add a human touch to digital marketing communication. Brands should think about what their audience cares about.”

They say a picture is worth a thousand words – and emojis are just the next evolution of communicating, sometimes even complex thoughts or emotions, with simple pictures.  Brands are recognizing the usefulness of the Emoji in online marketing communication.  Here are 2 reasons you should be using the cute smiley faces as a marketing tool.

1. Emojis can transcend  language barriers. A smiley face is universal, (you know this if you have ever traveled overseas) and now there are literally thousands of emojis that are gaining worldwide acceptance and allowing an entire generation to communicate across borders. A smile. A wink to a heart. The simplicity of these images breakdown linguistic obstacles, in turn, enhancing brand recognition and generating positive impressions. Marketing experts say emojis allow recipients to fully comprehend the intentions of the brand, no matter the worldwide location of the consumer.

2. Emojis help companies add a human touch to digital marketing communication.When I see a brand using an emoji, I can instantly relate on a personal level to the conveyed emotional message of that brand. Most marketers understand that emotion is more effective than promotion by more than 2 to 1. Let’s face it. They’re cute. Who doesn’t like cute? O.K. Maybe Scrooge. Or Archie Bunker. But you get my drift. Most people are jaded to perfect PhotoShop images and slick online lead generation tactics.

How can emojis  be used in brand marketing? They can be incorporated into instant messaging applications, text, email, promotional products and social media messages to convey brand emotions. Developing your own emoji image can be a great way to extend your marketing reach to millennials. HubSpot has an Emojis for Dummies Translation Guide to help you get started. Transport the online experience into tangible residual marketing. Check out these great specific examples of national brands using Emoji Marketing from Ad Age to get your creative ideas flowing.

These branded emoji “Flingers” fly through the air with a flick of their tongue! The cute guys  (we have girl emojis too) are a fun new item that is sure to grab attention at your next function. They are part of Fina Promos emoji based product line. Why not run an Emoji contest? Think about using these guys as part of your next tradeshow giveaway, meeting, Facebook or newsletter sign-up gift. Take simplistic messaging to a whole new level!

All my best,

Audrey Gotto

 

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The Impact of The ” Joe-Cool Factor” On Your Brand Image

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As a kid, I loved the Peanuts characters created by Charles M. Schulz. In particular, my favorite cartoon character was Snoopy. He was the original cool and trendy dude. Joe Cool was my hero. His trademark round sunglasses and “Joe Cool” turtleneck sweater (imprinted with his name, no less!) continues to be a timeless fashion statement. With his little buddy Woodstock following in tow, he projected the silent (Literally, silent. He was a character that did not speak) message that if you were to be seen with him, you must project your own trendy coolness.

What does Snoopy teach us about building our brand image? – That it’s hard to overstate the power of cool! When a product has that cool factor, you appreciate it, tell your friends about it and want to associate yourself with it. Whether that comes from a killer feature, a unique design, or a striking aesthetic, branded products that wow the recipient will give your business a trendy brand image.

So, How can your business and brand be more like Joe Cool? How do you wow your audience? One easy way is to incorporate the latest retail product trends into your marketing programs and company events. When choosing premium customer or employee gifts, promotional items, or even apparel branded with your logo, pick (appropriate) branded products that say “trendy’ like a Bluetooth Activity Band. Doing so will allow you to take advantage of an already hot trend.. 

Fina Promos Bluetooth Activity Band

Wearable technology is huge right now in the consumer market. I was meeting with a client last week who was wearing one of these and I have to admit that I felt a bit left out of the cool factor. After all, I am in the branding business. I SHOULD have the latest trendy tech products items, right?! My point is to put the latest consumer trends to work for you and your marketing brand.  Whatever promotional item you decide to align your brand with, be sure it is associated with quality, popularity, and a positive emotion.

Visit our promotional products catalog pages for the latest trends in branded products or tap on image for more products that project the “Joe Cool” factor!

See 12 More Trending Promotional Product Ideas!

13 product ideas of what’s cool and trending right now.

2 Ways For Your Brand To Score Big On Game Day

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Align your brand with game day to create community awareness.

Align your brand with game day to create community awareness. Click on image for ideas.

Can you smell autumn in the air? The evenings are becoming just a bit cooler. The trees are slowly changing color. Time to pull out the fuzzy winter sweaters, plan your fall day hike with the fam, and brew some fresh apple cider with cinnamon. And then there is the fall sports! As a self proclaimed sports diva, I must admit to getting a rush just hearing the words “fantasy football” and the Monday Night Football jingle, “Are you ready for some football?” (I know you’re singing the jingle in your head right now.)

How can your company brand participate in the spirit of the fall sports scene? Primarily in two ways:

Associate your brand with having an amazing time. Start thinking of creative ways to get in on the team spirit in the air. Whether you focus on your city’s professional sports teams (We love our Steelers and Pirates in Pittsburgh), local colleges, or even high school sports, be sure to be an active participant in either the event planning, promoting, or volunteering associated with sporting events in your hometown region. Could you create a Game Day Photo Contest on your business Facebook account? Have “Steeler Day” at the office? Sponsor a team or fund raiser? If you are able, actually attend the event and network with other business leaders in the community. Associating your  marketing brand with  local influencers goes a long way to scoring points for your small business.

Create “Game Day” branded promotional products to get fans on their feet.  Ask yourself this       question: What is my ideal customer’s marketing persona? In other words, define your demographic     and choose sports related branded promotional items that would appeal to them. Could you give           away a game day chair as a prize or sweepstakes? Hand out those fun foam #1 hands, or foam         hats co-branded with the team logo and your company logo. Set up a booth so that potential clients     can sign up for your company newsletter in exchange for a free promotional football or baseball.

Watch our video for 13 product ideas. Click on the megaphone for mega-great ideas and give your brand the shout-out it deserves.

Regards,

Audrey Gotto

CLICK ON THE MEGAPHONE FOR MEGA-GREAT MARKETING IDEAS

CLICK ON THE MEGAPHONE FOR MEGA-GREAT MARKETING IDEAS VIDEO

3 Ways To Market Your Brand to Teens and College Students

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According to the American Psychological Association, teens influence over $600 billion (with a “B”‘)  worth of spending annually. That’s a ton of crayons, folks! What is your small business doing to market to this growing group of purchasing giants? Back-To-School marketing for colleges, high schools, and even elementary grades can add significantly to your bottom line while showing goodwill as a local business.

Whether you want to reach students, teachers, professors, parents, or the community try these three tips to get your brand image out there before the bell rings in September.

  1. Follow Their Eyeballs.

Have a legit account on the social media sites that they visit. No, it’s not a waste of time. Instagram is now the most popular photo-sharing site among teens age 12-17. One million of them visited the site last July alone.

Add to that the 93% of social media–using teens who have a Facebook account (according to Pew Internet research), and the 16% who use Twitter (a figure that has doubled in recent years), and you’ve got a lot of teenage eyeballs.

But to connect with a teen target market, you must do more than simply have a presence on the sites they use. You must also pay attention to what motivates and inspires them. Pay attention to what they post and WHY they post.  Most teens (and adults) love to be associated with the latest cool gadget, piece of technology or brand fashion item that everyone else seems to be enjoying. (Remember carrying ginormous boom boxes to school?) They want to be recognized and validated for their unique contribution to the world around them. How can you help them do so? Think outside the box. Could you offer a social media contest that appeals to these needs?

2. Know where the parents hang out. 

Always, always, always try to associate your brand and logo with having a good time, being helpful, or educating the community (value). One of my favorite clients, Clearview Credit Union decided to give away a “college student laundry bag” to every parent who opened a college savings account or college loan with them. On one side of the bag, we printed the bank logo along with laundry instructions. The opposite side had the logo of the participating college. Talk about helpful, fun, and educational!! They were a huge hit.

Click for 13 Back To School Promo Items

Click for 13 Back To School Promo Items

3. Give them sweet promo items as a gift. 

Who doesn’t love cool FREE gifts? I still get excited when I see a great logo or graphic on a promotional product and I’ve been in the business for 25 years. (think…your favorite t-shirt, logo’d sports bag, athletic shoes, purse or pen) I continue to love my Pittsburgh Pirates logo’d baseball I received as a gift for signing up outside PNC Park for another credit card I didn’t need. I still have that Pirates baseball and yes, I still use the Mastercard.

Word of caution: Be sure your promotion has a purpose. In other words, what is it that you want the promotion to do, exactly? Perhaps you can capture email addresses to build up your newsletter readership by gifting an item in exchange for an email address. Do you want to drive more traffic to your website or add more followers to your social media sites? Use the promotional products to ensure your marketing goals are reached.

Feel free to contact me any time if you need specific suggestions for your next project. Any more ideas? Comment below in the reply section.

All my best,

Audrey Gotto

13 Ways For Your Biz To Think Pink in October

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Social Responsibility is a big priority for many companies.  How about yours? Does your team participate in a local “Walk For The Cure” or other fundraiser to show your support for a special cause? Branded products are an important component of any awareness initiative. Why? because pairing your brand’s logo with the cause shows goodwill to your staff and the community. Not to mention the warm and fuzzy feeling we all experience when putting ourselves out there to help others. In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Fina Promos have put together 13 of our favorite product ideas for showing support. Just click on the PINK SNEAKERS PHOTO to get great ideas.

Branded products help show your company's support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Branded products help show your company’s support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Please leave a comment below and share how your business has shown social responsibility for the causes that matter to you.

All My Best,

Audrey Gotto-Owner and lover of pink sneakers.

Click to see our Breast cancer Awareness Products Video

WATCH OUR VIDEO

“Promote Your Selfie” – The Top Promotional Product Trend in 2015

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Breakout product of 2015: the selfie stick.

If you haven’t heard of selfie sticks, they’re those telescoping wands with phone holders at the end of them that allow you to take selfies that don’t look like selfies. They come in Bluetooth and non-Bluetooth models. Why so popular this year? Consider a few statistics:

54% of internet users have posted original photos online.

There are nearly 62 million tagged selfie photos on Instagram alone!

Everyone is familiar with Ellen Degeneres snapping a selfie at the Oscars. The Oscar selfie was thought to be worth over $1 billion to Samsung. Several major celebrities were featured prominently in the selfie, along with the Samsung product logo on the back of the phone. The selfie was snapped with the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, and it became the most retweeted file in Twitter’s history – getting many more viewers in that way than at the event itself.
Many brands have since jumped on the selfie revolution building successful media campaigns around selfies, and some have done so very successfully.   Event professionals, PR firms, and some major brands are looking at ways to turn event selfies into marketing gold.
 A selfie Stick would make a great promotional swag gift at a fundraiser or VIP reception. By utilizing social media and print media prior to the event, a social buzz is created even before the first drinks are served. And can you imagine how many posts, shares and retweets such an event might garnish? Imprinted selfie sticks sell for approx. $8-$15 and believe me, it’s well worth your swag budget!
  At Fina Promotions, we run a #PromoteYourSelfie contest on Instagram. (Happily, our company sells logo’d selfie sticks AND imprinted T-shirts!) We ask  Instagrammers to like our image and follow @finapromotions on Instagram for a chance at a free “BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A SELFIE” T-shirt. A random new follower is chosen every Thursday (Selfie Thursday) and they are notified by a direct message in their IG inbox and are tagged in our photo for the week. They can then post a selfie, and tag us in their photo wearing our shirt after they have received it.  We have so far in three weeks increased our Instagram following by 30% as a result.
So, what are you waiting for? Get with the trendy, beautiful people and #PromoteYourSelfie! I’m always happy to assist you with finding the perfect promo item for your next event.
All My Best,
Audrey Gotto
selfietshirt

Trinkets, Trash, or Treasure? How Should You View Promotional Items?

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As I sit down to my computer this morning, (half awake, I might add) to write an article about the usefulness (or lack thereof) of promotional products, I take a sip of java from my favorite mug.

It’s the black one with the stylized “Starbucks Lady” logo etched in white. I love this mug. I pull it out every morning as I immerse myself into my work day. In fact, if this mug is not yet washed (i.e; still in the sink!) I will wash it by hand. That’s how much I LOVE this ceramic mug. Most of us can relate to that one item we pull out of the cupboard first. Two minutes later I picked up an Allied Group, Inc. (one of my clients) logo’d  imprinted pens to take a few notes….Oh, and by the way I  wrote that note on a scratch pad imprinted with a local auto glass company’s logo, phone number and address imprinted at the bottom of each and every page.

So, what’s the point? Okay maybe I don’t automatically think, “Wow! I really must call Allied Group, Starbucks and Ryan’s Auto Glass today and give them tons of business!” More likely I will occasionally have a need for an auto glass repair, SEO work from Allied or need to stock up on Starbucks. BUT WHEN I DO HAVE THE NEED, more than likely my subconscience will lead me to think of those companies whose marketing promo products are laying around my house.

What about you? Look around your house or office after reading this article. How many promotional products do you see? Why do you have them around? Are they useful items? A brand you like being associated with? Is there an emotional connection. Let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

The video below shows some very compelling  statistics on the power of this advertising medium. So, what do YOU think? Trinkets, Trash, or Treasures?

 

http://finapromos.net/ TEL 412-523-5185 /Audrey Gotto

What I Learned from Mr. Ed about Marketing

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"Never speak unless you have something to say." -Mr. Ed

“Never speak unless you have something to say.” -Mr.  Ed

I agree with Mr. Ed, the talking horse in the classic television series. He was famous for saying, “you should never speak unless you have something to say.” He was one smart horse, folks. In fact, from a promotional marketing perspective, his advice is often overlooked by many businesses. After identifying your target audience or group, don’t just “wing it” when it comes to your promotional message. Take the time to create a strong, effective and compelling marketing message or statement right on the promo product you are spending your hard earned marketing dollars to purchase.

When imprinting or customizing a promotional product, business gift, or advertising specialty product, some businesses print or engrave their logo only on that product. This is a waste of valuable marketing “real estate” and can be a missed opportunity. A coffee mug can be imprinted as a “wrap around” design giving you room for a full color process photo of your product or service.  Consider using your maximum imprint area without being cheesy. Granted, not all imprint areas are large enough to accommodate a lengthy tagline. And the type of promotional product you choose may not warrant detailed graphics. But, as you think your promotion through, consider including a strong benefit statement or call to action.

When imprinting promotional products for my company, Fina Promotions, I always try to include the message; “Marketing Services for Small Business and Busy Entrepreneurs.” At the very least, imprint your website address underneath your logo if you can. It generally doesn’t cost any more if you imprint in the same color as your logo or graphic image. It can improve your results dramatically. By adding that one line (tagline, message, or benefit statement), I am informing the target group what I want them to know about my company.

So, Follow Mr. Ed’s Advice and never speak unless you have something to say!

-Audrey Gotto