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Why spend hours on the internet when you can tell us your goal ( give us demographics and/or what you want to achieve)and get a free consultation and a email presentation with solutions.
You are talented, knowledgeable, skilled or experienced in your industry.
You have enough to do with your business, employees, customers, finances and ongoing tasks.
Advertising is a science! Let an expert who is talented, knowledgeable, skilled and experienced handle your needs while you do what you do best. Our most valuable product “marketing advice” is free… we think about all aspects of the product and ask the appropriate questions and provide the perfect gift that has the right results for you!
We have all used some of these products all our lives allows us to be comfortable in knowing what the item is, but that doesn’t mean they make perfect gifts.
An example…. one company bought one dollar coffee mugs to save money, then unknowingly spent 3 dollars to mail each. (They could have had a $3 dollar item that cost $1 to mail and given a much better gift for the same total cost).
Another example is the company that gave Swiss Army Knifes away at the convention’s closing breakfast, then 90 % of knifes (costing about $20 each) were taken away at security 2 hours later. Intentions were good and the gifts would be great some other time.
PromotionalMerchandise.com is a company that does this every day and it is our job to make sure your item is your perfect promotion and you get the maximum ROI. Your perfect promotion is different than someone else’s perfect promotion. That’s the reason we give you personal attention and old fashioned killer customer service delivered with today’s technology.
This is a partial list of some questions we might ask:
- Your budget?
- Turnaround time parameters?
- Delivery method (in person, mailing etc) that can change the entire decisions based on product value
- Usability – does it need to be a utility or fun?
- Gift impression – traditional or unique perception?
- Impact and importance of duration- instant wow or long life?
- Convey image – technical, innovative, service oriented, progressive what do you want to represent you?
- Handling – When recipient gets gift is it?
Easy to get home.
Too bulky if at trade show
Sharp edges could be a security problem if they are flying.
Breakable – will it get home in one piece or is special packaging provided-
- Imprint area- Is logo enough or is a large print area needed.
- Color – one color or is full process color needed for pictures & graphics
tee shirts printed as promotional products
Rececently we had a rush job for Athens Greece, where we got the call Monday and they need custom printed items the Friday 4 days later. We produced the custom printed items in 24 hours so there would be enough time for global shipping and customs. Our friends in Costa Rica had us make several items and my favorite were these t shirts with the Parrot, Volcano, Palm and Water waves logo.
Gary Rugoff of Promotional Merchandise.com designed a bottle with a “cool contemporary look” for the DFW airport to give away as a token of good will to passengers delayed and stranded. Most companies and organizations would simply stamp their logo on a giveaway but kudos to the DFW Airport Executives who allowed Gary’s creative flow to produce a gift that looked like a boutique bought gift versus a corporate giveaway thereby raising the perceived value. Everyone loves a free gift and when it has a cool look, it is liked even more! Gifts like this have been used by airport employees to spread positive good will to a potentially aggravated audience even when the delay is caused by nature and other “out of control” circumstances. The Travelers will tell stories of the natural disaster delay and add how DFW airport made it a positive experience shedding good light on our airport and our city.
Southwest gets funny with free bags on the fashion runway
We made cockatil napkins for our customer Southwest Airlines who was sponsoring a cocktail party in the Mercedes Fashion Week in New York City. Very fun play on the “runway” and free bags theme. At their cocktail party the napkins read “we don’t charge for bags on our runway”
I posted pictures of promotional merchandise used by Lady GaGa and Glee. Glee (after having Madonna, then GaGa now announed they will do a show utilizing Britteny (can you say “follow in the steps of Madonna” but of course you can’t go wrong doing that..we love Madonna).
Dion Pride shirt fro CMA fanfare Nashville
We are pleased to continue to manufacture items for Charley Pride’s Fan Club for many years such as the fan club’s leather coasters. This year we not only made the custom printed mugs for the CMA Fanfare Charley Pride Fan Club’s Breakfast but we have been challanged to design a shirt for Dion who is Charley’s son and an up and coming artist in his own right. I was given the theme and song title created the design within hours of when they were requested. We went into fast production to have them for the end of the same week.
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When buying logo products one should always consider how you’re a delivering them for the most return on your advertising dollar. The idea is to buy the best ad specialty logo item and spend the least on shipping and delivery. The greatest example of this is the tried and true ceramic coffee mug which is the biggest bang for the buck for sales call leave behinds. If you were mailing your giveaway a coffee mug typically costs $3 to $4.00 ground which is 400% of the cost to ship, versus the typical 5% shipping cost of other items. So if you are mailing logo products you want something thin, light and easily mailable such as a leather coaster, flat jar opener, mouse pad or nail file.
If you are delivering in person you have the optional of a bulky desktop item that will stay on the desktop and advertise your logo for years.
Logo products are always a great idea at a trade show because it creates booth traffic and stimulates interaction between exhibitor and show attende. If you are going to be giving out the logo products at a trade show you don’t want to give away items they can’t easily carry or items with blades that will be taken away by security if they are flying home from the show. Statistics also show that over 50% of tradeshow attendees throw away catalogs before they leave to go home so while it cost you more to mail them during follow up, your return on investment will be much greater by assuring the catalogs make it back to their office. Use the logo product to attract to your booth, make conversation while handing them out. Make the most of your tradeshow with good notetaking and following up.
It didn’t matter what was in the bag because the bag itself is so much fun. With 6 cool designs to choose from, VIP guest picked their favorite design at Deux Longe Dallas Fashion show for Pure magazine, The event raised money for the BP clean up cause. Attendees of any event leave with goodwill and your positive message remains with them for the life of the bag.
Being a big Madonna fan I am glad we have the Madonna coaster in our celebrity promotional products museum.
See all the Hollywood Promotions at
http://www.promotionalmerchandise.com/hollywood museum pics/celebrity_entertainment_promotions.htm
an ad that is unique and gets sales works
Instead of thinking about your industry, ask yourself, what is a fun industry? What are people wanting to enjoy or do in life? Thinking like that creates an ad that will get attention and result in more sales.
This ad for example could have said “here is the best value in a leather bag with your logo” but instead the product is the star at a concert adding fun & pizzaz…and it got noticed!
Trinkets and trash were once useless gizmos that were designed to capture attention at a trade show. In today’s world the consumer has become more sophisticated and desires utility or lifestyle relevance. Being eco-correct, and relevant for today’s lifestyle such as iPhone accessories. The hottest most requested items are iPhone desk holder, iPhone micro dot, cell phone gripper, portable power packs for hand held devices, memory units. and iPad covers with your company logo!
Announcement of Good Morning Texas Winner
Gracious Amy Vanderoef spoke at the May 10th meeting of Jeff Crilley’s DIY PR then made the announcement of the winner.
Intercontinental Hotels group hosted a party for Helms Briscoe (the largest meeting planners group in the US) at the Las Vegas House of Blues. The party was a huge success. IHG asked Promotional Merchandise.com to provide a fun giveaway with lifestyle art and that would convey the spirit of House of Blues… something that could actually be used at the event and would be so desirable party goers would keep, take home and use. The result was a high quality coozie using real neoprene that insulates (much better than the open cell sponge bottle/can cover that are often used because of price). The art was custom created by Gary Rugoff and went through the approval process with Intercontinental Hotels Group executives.
Tell me your favorite tradeshow item or corporate gift that you’ve either received, given out or wanted. You can also tell me the most unique, interesting or effective promotion and yes you might just get one. If you win we will email you a request for your address and send your free gift!
- USB memory credit card , memory is hot and this has a huge full color print area on 2 sides
- I Pod gadgets – like the I pod or blackberry desktop stand
- Micro spot- the self sticking little spot cleaner pad that stays on your phone ready to be used
- The I Phone and Blackberry gripper- a stick on, flat material adds texture and keeps the cell phone in place
- Show lanyard with cell phone pouch
- Roller balls pens are fun to write with and remain the #1 pen category in all price ranges
- Silky lens cleaning cloths made of special washable fabric with sublimation printing
A mistake some marketers make is believing that they should only market their websites in the online arena. While online marketing is integral to website success, traditional marketing produces amazing results and supports online efforts.
Basics have always been business cards, flyers and catalogs although increasing reality is, flat (paper) printing is easily trashed or put in a file never to be seen again. Paper print is considered a waste by suuporters of the eco and green movement. A better idea for sales call leave behinds and follow up’s are useful everyday dimensional promotional products. Logo’d products are the best value as they remain for years after they are paid for. Your name or message is on the useful desktop item for years while internet banners go away with a mouse click.
So don’t get trashed, filed away or left behind with a click of the mouse; get your message seen for years with low cost dimensional logo products you can buy at PromotionalMerchandise.com.
Tee shirts are walking billboards that not only get worn for years but let the world know of your sponsorship in community events and causes. Compare the cost of a tee shirt or other low cost promotional product to the high cost of a internet banner, 60 second television commercial or a spot on the radio and you will see what a great value and return on your investment low cost promotional products provide. Those other advertisements are gone in seconds while the low cost useful product with your logo remains for years after you have paid for it.
Cheryl Farber Cory a realtor I recomend(www.facebook.com/cherylcory) invited me to a great promotion. The idea was everyone in the real estate office invites all their facebook friends and business connections. The event included a DJ creating the mood, chefs barbequing hamburgers and hotdogs and a mix of fun people enjoying the beautiful weather. People of all industries networked and exchanged business cards and information.
For many years we have produced products for Charley Pride, the Charlie Pride Fan Club and the Fanfare Coutry Music Breaksfast in Nashville. Some of the items we make are leather coasters, picture buttons and t shirts.
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about Charley Pride:Charley Pride (born 1938) was country music’s first African American star. For the past 25 years, Pride has been ranked among the top 15 best-selling recording artists of all time. During his career, he has had 36 number-one hit singles, and he has sold over 25 million albums. He has had 31 gold albums, 4 platinum albums, and 1 quadruple platinum album. Pride was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000, the highest honor a country musician can receive. As an RCA Records recording artist, Pride is second in sales only to Elvis Presley.
He has won several Grammy awards. Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, Country Music Association, 1970; Top Male Artist of the Decade (1970s), Cash Box magazine, 1980; inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame, 2000.
When Shady Line asked for promotional ideas for Eminem’s new line we came up with a coozie shaped like a (wifebeater) shirt and printed in the style Eminem wears. Since then the tee shirt fold flat cooze has been used numerous times for all types of promotions and remains a staple promotional merchandise item used by thousands of companies in all different industries.
We have done so many new promotional gifts for cell phones. I like items that are good for both Blackberry and the I Phone. Our hottest are the micro spot cleaning square that sticks to the back of the phone and it it cleans the front lens and the desk top phone holder stand.
Andy Lynn Sobek picked up the 3 Day Komen Race T shirts. Her team “The Power of Pink” is going to to wear them in Dallas this weekend and they loved the art I created. We reversed out the ribbon with the funky lettering of “The Power of Pink” repeating all though the body of the breast cancer ribbon design. The “POP” team was gratious in allowing us sponsorship and to put our 2 logos (Shirtdeals.com and PromotionalMerchandise.com) on the awesome shirts. We love helping a Komen fight cancer.
gary rugoff and-russel-simmons at event
Great event and we thank D’Andra Simmons, sponsors like Grey Goose and many others who gave the time, energy and resources to make the event happen and be successful. Out of town celebrity attendees included Smokey Robinson, Russel Simmons, Rev Ron, Anthony Anderson, Jenna Bush-Hager, Barbara Bush, Dikembe Mutombo and Rose Mutombo and others. It was held at the renovated Union Station and the DJ Cassidy definitely rocked the house
We have added a full line of eco green products to promote organizations. A favorite new item is the “seeded” download card (recipient downloads ringtones or mp3 music) and after using the card plants it. The card dissolves and the seeds grow beautiful flowers in the pot in your home or office. IHG Intercontinental Hotels Group national sales force will be using this green giveaway. If you need another idea for an Earth Day promotion or jsut to give a “green gift” with your company logo, contact Gary Rugoff Sales 972.889.0303.
We provided wrist bands for the first ever Dallas Skin Party held at the new Rok Republic located on Hall near McKinney Avenue in uptown Dallas. Aaron Roberts coordinated the event with Rok Republic and gave invited paid guest a wrist band. We were given j pegs of both logos and had them converted to usable vector (illustrator) files.
How to promote your business, nonprofit organization, product or service…ask the expert questions!
Angie Barrett called me late Wednesday asking if I could make custom plastic cups with her daughters childhood pictures and deliver 2 days later on Friday. Needing one day to ship that gave me one day to create the art and actually manufacture the custom products. We always like to give added value so we took the pictures and created the screne around the pictures to tie in the birthday party theme of “Dirty XXX” and thier party bus to a Oklahoma Casino. The birthday party is a bus of friends and family driving to a casino. I added a bus and other scenery for the background of the cups, added the photos and some very cool text. Of course if you don’t know how and where to get them printed in four color process in less then 24 hours nothing else would matter.,,but its my job to know how to get it done and I did it. I’m looking forward to hearing how great they went over and added to the succes of the event! I know everyone on the bus will enjoy the pictures and cool fun art on the plastic cups (filled with yummy drinks).
Gary Rugoff Promotional Products expert spotlighted by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce
The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce featured Gary Rugoff owner of Gary Rugoff Sales d.b.a. PromotionalMerchandise.com in its current newsletter. Gary talks about the company, the wildest promotions, being an expert at using promotional products to achieve customer goals, and why promotional products are more relevant in the internet age. Gary was pleased to assist the Chamber with a “Lancaster Loyalty Card Promotion”. We will watch for boosts in local sales as the local shopping spirit is accelerated.
http://www.lancastertx.org/file/2010MarchLancasterChamberNewsletter.pdf
Gary Rugoff Promotional Products Expert highlighted by Chamber of COmmerce
We made posters with 4 color process pictures of Akon for his Konvict Clothing Line and ALiene to boost in store sales. We put rivits in each corner so department stores could hang the posters above the clothing displays and create a buzz and draw attention.
