90 Day Planning Session
29 Jan 2009 1 Comment
in Vegas 2009
We attended our 90 Day Planning Session with Reggie Shropshire and Lynn Hagin of Action Coach International last Friday, January 23, 2009. These sessions help us to stay focused so we can better serve all our clients. Below are a couple pictures from this day long session. This is just one more step in our education process.
Overall View Of The Group
Our Fierce Leader Reggie Shropshire
Now when you plan your 90 day planning session, you can keep in mind some of the ideas we brought back frm Vegas and incorporate them in your programs. I have listed below a couple more ideas from Las Vegas.
With the SuperBowl just 3 days away, everyone has partying and fun stuff on their mind. Have fun but most important is be safe.
Floating Cooler
How cool is this. It floats just like a genuine bobber. The Big Bobber is designed to hold 12 cans with ice. American-made strong, light, and very portable, with built-in handle. It’s insulated to keep cold while tied to your boat or innertube for a ride down the river or an afternoon’s fun at the pool or the beach. Measures approximately 13-1/2″ in diameter and weighs approximately 4-3/4 lb. Get everyone’s attention with this.
Cowboy Hat Koolie
Well, the Dallas Cowboys are not in the Super Bowl this year, but that will not make a difference when you pull out your Cowboy Hat Koolie to watch the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. You will be the hit AND then if it has your logo on it — WATCH OUT. Take plenty to hand out to every one. You have just scored big time. TOUCHDOWN!!
Recycle Grocery Totes That Fold Flat
100% Recycled Nonwoven Folding Bag – Hard bottoms and velcro tabs that have a hole to allow the bag to be folded and placed on a hanging display. 24″ handles with 4 location imprint. Collapses to 9-1/2 x 6-1/2 x 1.
This is the bag you take to the store to buy your chips and snacks and keep taking back every time. Do away with the plastic bags. Recycling is here to stay.
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”
Carl Sagan, American scientist, 1934-1996
DAY OF CHANGE
21 Jan 2009 1 Comment
Well, today is the day of the Presidential Inauguration. Whether you agree or disagree, for months we have been hearing the word Change. So I guess today is the day for Change. All I know is Wilmington, North Carolina lived up to the word today, Tuesday, January 20, 2009. We received an inch or more of the white stuff called snow. Now that is a change for us. We never see snow. Boy was it pretty coming down. Rather hard to get any work done watching out the window as the large flakes fell, then it would slow down and I would go back to work. All of a sudden I would look up and it was coming down steady again. So was I daydreaming or was I thinking? Hard to tell the difference. Either way, as my freind Michael Crooks puts it — either way, you are mentally goofing off. So today, I mentally goofed off.
First & Probably The Only Snowfall of the Year
Snow Covered Poinsettias
Enough of the cold stuff, let’s get back to the hot products we found last week in Las Vegas. Below are a couple more neat ideas I liked and may be a good fit for your marketing program.
Collapsible Pet Water Bowl
How cool is this. That little round thing with the clip attached is the water bowl collapsed. What a great idea if you take your dog jogging with you or on a road trip with you. This bowl is awesome in that it takes up no packing space at all. It is small enough to fit in your pocket, or use the supplied clip to attach to your belt or pet’s collar. Will hold up to 2 liters of water or food.
Full Color Stainless Steel Bottles
100% BPA FREE! Made from 100% Recycled stainless steel. These stainless steel bottles can be imprinted in full color, 2D-Pewter Emblem or with single silk screen print.
We still have items to show you fromVegas. Keep checking back regularly. Please feel free to post a comment about our blog. We would love to hear from you.
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little extra” –Unknown
New Product Ideas Straight From LAS VEGAS Tradeshow
16 Jan 2009 Leave a Comment
in Vegas 2009
This is a small item that attaches to the back of your cell phone and stays there. It is not magnetic. You remove it and use it to clean the front of your cell phone. Do not use your clothing because that will scratch your screen. This item will not scratch as it is very soft. After cleaning your screen, simply put on the back of your phone for use another time.
This same supplier has a larger cleaning pad that works on your laptop. This pad attaches to the corner of your laptop. Simply remove and clean your screen and then put back when not in use. This item also doubles as a mousepad. Nice.
Then we have the sticky for the side of your computer that will hold ink pens or a note.
Golf tees with a really large imprint area. What an awesome idea. You can now put your logo on tees.
Tomorrow is the last day of the show but I am sure we will have plenty of new pictures tomorrow night. This show puts your brain in overload because there are so many things to see.
We leave Saturday to return to Wilmington and will be back sometime after midnight. We will be back in the office Monday morning. Wish I could say bright eye and bushy tale but I can only say – We will be back in the office Monday morning.
Tradeshow from Las Vegas – Neat Products
15 Jan 2009 Leave a Comment
in Vegas 2009
We walked the floor from 10 am – 5:30 today skipping lunch – talking to suppliers and looking at new neat products. We did find some new and neat stuff we will be bringing home to show. Below are pictures of some of the items we found.
Expandable Cinch Sack
Camo T-Shirt With Matching Bag
These custom shaped flash drives are really neat. They are double sided and something your clients will never throw in their desk drawer.
Custom Shaped Flash Drives
Custom Shaped Flash Drives
How many times have we gone to the grocery store and could not keep up with our grocery list. LOVE this idea. This also has a magnet on the back so you can put it on your refrigerator until you go to the store. It will clip to your cabinet door if you want to hold a recipe or it can even hook around a bottle of wine if you want to add a note to your gift. All this is shown below.
List Caddy
List Caddy Fits on Cabinet Door
List Caddy Fits on Wine Bottle
List Caddy Shown on Shopping Carts
Now this was another neat idea. This is a Phubby. This fits on your wrist and carries your cell phone, house key or money if you are out walking, jogging or whatever and do not want to carry a purse. It does have a flap so that it will not fall out. Below you will see if actually on the arm.
Phubby
Phubby on the Arm
Last on our list today is of course all the shirts. So many colors and so many sizes. So hard to make a decision. I do know one thing — these poor fellows need to see the sun a little more.
Hope to bring you more pictures tomorrow. Keep checking back.
Day Two From Las Vegas Nevada
14 Jan 2009 Leave a Comment
in Vegas 2009
Well, still no sleep. In bed around 11:30 and back up at 5:15. Our first class was at 7:30 – 9:00 this morning. We have classes until 5:00 this afternoon. Then we have two events we need to attend from 5 – 7pm and then we are having dinner with a large group of distributors after that. Sounds like a crazy schedule and it is but we truly are having a lot of fun.
We are seeing distributors that we have not seen in a long time (we are considered a distributor). It is always nice to get together and share ideas and always have tons of laughter. Our classes are always a great way for us to learn how to better serve our clients and give the best customer service possible.
Chip Heath
We had the opportunity to listen to Chip Heath. He is the author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Absolutely wonderful speaker and his book is on the top seller list. Gotta get his book.
After our meeting, there was a group of 20 that did not want to part just yet, so we stayed and had dinner together. As you can see from the pictures below, we were sharing a lot of ideas. You can truly get a lot of good tips and tricks. Of course, it is not always about business. We do have fun with personal stuff as well.
Dinner with Friends (1)
Dinner with Friends (2)
Tomorrow I will post pictures from the trade show floor of new product or some new neat item I see. We have classes tomorrow 7:30 – 9:30 and the show floor opens at 10 am until 6 pm.
Las Vegas First Day – Education
13 Jan 2009 Leave a Comment
in Vegas 2009
We finally arrived in Las Vegas last night. We were up 20 hours. Guess you could say we were dead tired. Not a lot happened today as we had classes all day long. We were at our first class this morning at 7:30 am and this was a class on The Fortune Is In The Follow Up. That had to be the best speaker I have ever heard. Our convention and classes are being held at Mandalay Bay.
Mandalay Bay
Class on Follow Up
After our first class we went down to the food court and had the honor of paying $9.75 for a cheeseburger and I could have paid $4.75 for french fries. They sure think a lot of their food around here. I let them keep the french fries. My hips said thank you anyway.
Food Court
After grabbing a bite to eat, it was off to our afternoon class about Using New Media Marketing Tools. This class was 1-4pm. Then another class 4:30- 6:00 on Digital Marketing – The Changing Face of Promotions. So, we were in classes from 9 am – 6 pm today.
New Media Class During Break - Shows Size of Class
Then as we are finally leaving for the day, we run into our friend from the Durham area, Dave Gephart. His son has a restaurant at Wrightsville Beach – Buoy 32. Great restaurant.
Ezell & Dave Gephart
Now we are off to our room to grab a bite to eat. post this blog and then may have to hit the tables for a little bit. Got to get to bed before too late. Classes start at 7:30 am tomorrow morning.
Good Bye 2008 – Welcome 2009
05 Jan 2009 1 Comment
As we brought 2008 to a close this past week, we now start fresh with a clean slate and a new year. We have put away the yard decorations for another year. We have not even started on the inside of the house but will get started on that this week. I have posted a couple pictures of the house lit up at night. I love the red tree with the 3,900 lights. I will leave that tree alone until after Valentine. I will not light it up at night until Valentine draws nearer.
We enjoyed the holidays with my daughter and her husband from St. Louis, MO (Shannon and Rich Pierce). His parents drove down from Virginia and also joined us for Christmas. We truly had a great time. Food – food – food and more food. Now we have to hit the treadmill and water.
Front of House
Red Tree with 3,900 Lights
What are Promotional Products and Why Are They So Popular?
The power of Promotional Products comes from their ability to get an effective, targeted marketing message in front of exactly the prospects and clients you need to reach, and keep it there…. without the waste associated with other media.
While broadly considered to be any useful item featuring a company logo, name or advertising message, the very best promotional products don’t just brand, they generate actual, measurable results.
The Four Factors of Successful Promotions.
1. Audience-appropriate product.
The most compelling marketing message in the world will be lost on the recipient if the promotional item itself is not appropriate to the targeted audience.
2. Effective marketing message.
Too often, promotional products convey only company names or logos without any string benefit statement, advantage or call to action. It generally costs no more to add these things to the imprint, but the effect it can have on the entire campaign is dramatic.
3. Targeted, qualified recipients.
Very few companies can afford to market to everyone. So each promotion should be geared toward the individuals most likely to generate positive results for you.
4. The right time.
It’s been said that the difference between salad and garbage is timing. This is equally true of marketing. The perfect marketing message delivered either too soon or too late will not produce the desired result.
However, when you imprint an audience-appropriate product with an effective marketing message and deliver it to a qualified group of recipients at the right time, you dramatically increase your likelihood of success. The best promotional products advisors in the world are those who help their clients to master the four factors of successful promotions.
SOURCE: “The Power of Promotional Products” By Maria Carlton & David Blaise.
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