When developing your company’s promotional programs, it is always important to consider just how they will be implemented, who will do the implementing, and what the benefits of each of your options option would be. Of course, each organization is differently structured, has different specializations, and has a different infrastructure; but in general, it usually ends up being far better for an organization to partner with a quality promotional marketing company than to try to build it on their own. This is due to the three primary benefits that a qualified promotional marketing company can bring to the table: more competitive pricing, higher efficiencies due to optimized infrastructure, and greater flexibility.

Promotional partners use volume to leverage pricing.

More Competitive Pricing – One thing your promotional products company brings to the table right away is something critical to providing the highest value possible; volume. A high-end promotional partner will typically push hundreds of times the volume annually through its supplier when compared against an individual company. The promotional company is then able to leverage that volume to negotiate much better pricing than an outside organization could ever hope to. A good supplier will also have developed long-term relationships with worldwide sourcing partners in order to provide high quality goods at extremely competitive rates. Overseas and domestic relationships can be hard to develop, and even harder to maintain for an individual organization.

One of the reasons our organization has been so successful over the years is that we have been able to offer full scale self-supporting, or even profitable, value-added programs for far cheaper than our clients can. This is simply because our organization has both the volume and the advantage of being able to maximize our economies of scale in regards to our extra value-added services. The bottom line is, due to our highly specialized service platform, we can typically offer higher quality services for less when compared with going it alone.

Your promotional partner should have an optimized program infrastructure.

Higher Efficiencies Due to Optimized Infrastructure – Most companies are good at what they do, but then again most companies aren’t promotional products companies either. With a qualified promotional partner, you can rely on their finely-honed suite of value-added services and the infrastructure that goes along with that. From product sourcing to design, to warehousing and fulfillment, most companies simply aren’t equipped to cost-effectively build the infrastructure necessary to manage a large scale program. The complexities increase even further when you include other high-end services such as custom e-commerce, program marketing, and customer support. Chances are, to build the program from scratch and fund it; you will spend more than it is worth.

In addition to the costs of building a program, there is the cost of managing a program. A good promotional program will be able to offer dedicated in-house support staff to handle things like customer service, program accounting, and technical support for all of your programs. Your partner should also be able to offer tools that make your part easier and more efficient: specialized reports, online program management, custom program support systems, etc… The daily cost of managing and supporting your promotional program can quickly spiral out of control if you are not careful. A quality promotional marketing partner can help absorb or even eliminate those costs.

Your promotional program partners will provide more options for your programs.

Greater Flexibility – Promotional needs change over time, and your promotional programs will need to adapt as well. In other words, what works well today may need to reverse course tomorrow. Your organization will need to change with the times, and you can avoid throwing away your carefully earned investment dollars by going with a partner who has the flexibility to adapt to you needs in a cost-effective way. Chances are, if you have a promotional program need, your promotional partner has ideas and solutions ready to implement to help you reach your goals. Typically they can have these solutions ready to deploy quicker and more efficiently than by starting from scratch.

It should also be noted that the promotional product industry itself changes rapidly as well. Something that was impossible yesterday may be a simple matter today. Most organizations don’t have the time to follow new developments as they arrive. For organizations like Powertex Group, keeping current on promotional trends is not only helpful, but vital to our ability to remain competitive in our market. With a solid promotional partner, you can be sure to get feedback on new program ideas, new products, as well as new business-enhancing techniques involving promotional marketing.

It is important to consider that there are always exceptions to the rule. For example, at Powertex Group, we have several trucking companies that we service. Distribution is what they do, and they can definitely do it competitively. In these cases, Powertex Group provides a whole range of value-added services while working with these partners to utilize their pre-existing distribution channels. The most important part to remember is that your organization is unique; your solutions should be as well. That is why you need a partner who is able to maximize promotional program value while working within your specific environment.

For more information on how a quality promotional supplier can help you, please call us at: (800) 588-7111 (and talk to your sales rep), or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com.

Avoiding a one-size-fits-all mentality is key to reaching your different audiences.

One of the most challenging aspects of designing and implementing promotional marketing programs is accommodating each of your primary audiences. It can be easy to slip into a one-size-fits-all mentality, which is often a sure recipe for failure. The truth is, each audience is different, and in order to effectively sell to them, their solutions should be different as well. Being aware of the important differences between your primary audiences segments is one thing, being able to design programs that accommodate each audiences’ need is another.

In this article, we will look at some of the more common high-level audience segments, and look at what drivers typically motivate them, as well as some quick tips on how best to reach them.

Retail Audiences – This segment can typically be broken down into many sub-segments, each with their own habits and/or motivation. In reaching out to your retail market, it is often helpful to keep that in mind. Always be aware of who your audience is, what your end goal is, and most importantly, what value your products and/or services bring to your clients. In order to effectively reach your clients with promotional marketing programs, you may have to strategically separate out your audiences and fine tune your message and/or offerings to suit each segment.

Retail audiences can often be segmented into a number of different sub-sections

A perfect example of this is in a recent promotion we designed with one client; we had a large incentive program that consisted of an online signup promotion with a subsequent visit to the nearest dealer location to redeem their signup form for a custom-branded cap. During the design process we identified that, for this particular client, a large portion of their potential customer base would be considered either light internet users or loyal to another competing brand. In order to effectively reach this segment, we designed a complimentary walk-in program component that functioned completely independently of the online portion. It was deigned complete with point-of-purchase displays, and physical signup forms that would allow retail/dealer locations an incentive to entice that potential customer segment with the same promotional benefits as the online users.

Dealer Networks/Retail Locations – Dealer networks and retail locations differ from retail audience segments generally in the fact that you are not as much marketing to them as giving them the tools they need to effectively market to their audiences. Consequently, program such as promotional product kitting, dealer promotion discount purchase programs, dealer custom-branded merchandise catalogs, and even employee uniform and incentive programs work well for Dealers and Retail location segments.

Customized name-dropped merchandise is an excellent tool for retail locations

One of the most important things about creating promotional marketing programs aimed at this group is to consider how it helps to build on the clients’ relationship with their dealer or retail location. Every promotion should be designed either to help your retail locations make the sales conversion or to get customers to know your brand through your dealer or retail location.

Another thing, when creating promotions aimed directly at the retail customer, you want to make sure that you are not alienating or bypassing your dealer or retail location base. It might make sense, in many cases, to modify your promotion to drive sales and conversions through these locations rather than a central website or catalog. This will help to add value to your retail network while simultaneously driving sales.

Corporate Members/Employees – Corporate Members and Employee promotions look very different from retail or dealer/retail location promotions in that they are generally aimed at promoting the brand from within and improving employee morale. This can be more difficult that it seems, since often times it is hard to gauge what will work and what will not within each organization. Each organization typically has an extremely large range of workers, from retail workers, mechanics, and manual workers to executives, sales persons, and technical workers. This tends to make it much more difficult to find a one-size-fits- all promotional incentive solution, and often requires a delicate hand in making sure you are properly incenting each group while making sure you are not appearing as favoring one group over the other.

Employee uniform and incentive programs can have a great effect on employee morale.

More than any other market segment, employee and corporate incentives can easily backfire if not applied correctly. They can easily engender feelings of inequality or favoritism, or they can sometimes be seen as insincere gestures. This is why we recommend, more than for any other type of promotion, consulting an experienced promotional partner before implementing any sort of employee incentive program. You will want someone who can ask the right questions about your organization’s internal structure and your particular corporate culture. Be wary of programs that don’t take into account these things as each organization is vastly different. Their employee incentive and corporate programs need to be designed around that.

When properly implemented, corporate and employee incentive programs can vastly improve employee morale, increase sales, decrease costs, reduce accidents, or any of a whole number of possible goals. They can help you get your organization where it needs to go, and should be considered a valuable part of any organizations’ promotional plan.

When designing your promotional marketing programs, it is always important to consider who you are marketing to in relation to what your end goals is. This article discusses only a very small fraction of the possibilities relating to only a few of the more common market segments. These subjects become incrementally more complex as you divide them down further, add more potential audiences in to the equation, and take into consideration each brand’s individual audiences and culture. With the right tools, the right knowledge, and the right partner, it becomes much simpler to design, implement and deploy programs that help you and your individual audience segments reach their goals. For more information on how you can design effective programs ofr your audience segments, please call us at: (800) 588-7111 (and talk to your sales rep), or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com.

Powertex is always adjusting to our clients' needs

Connecting with our clients to learn more about their needs.

It’s no secret that the last year has brought significant changes to the promotional products industry. Many in our industry have found that it is no longer enough to simply offer competitively priced products. In order to compete, a company now HAS to offer a complete service platform to survive. They have come to understand that each client is unique, and so should be their solutions.

This is something that we’ve long understood at Powertex Group, and it is part of the reason why we have been able to remain strong despite the current economic crisis. In fact, we feel that we have gained valuable insights and been able to take advantage of the last year to position ourselves for significant continued success throughout 2010.

We asked a cross-section of our customers for help

That however, is not enough to ensure long term growth. We have to continue to drive innovation not only this year, but next year and beyond.  It is in that spirit that we recently reached out to a cross-section of our clientele to ask them their opinions on what they currently are pleased with, where we offer value, and where we can potentially raise our service level to meet our client’s needs. I would like to point out, before we go any further, that while it is impossible to conduct interviews with each an every single client on our list, we are leaving this informal customer survey open to all. If you have feedback that you feel strongly about, or you have service and platform suggestions, please call us or email our customer service desk (information at the end of this article) to give us you thoughts. We want your feedback, and would love to discuss your ideas. The whole point of this process is to be able to better provide a more comprehensive service platform for our clients.

The following interview questions were asked of our clients. We have provided summaries of the responses provided, as well as a synopsis of what it means for us.

In your opinion, what services/products that we provide offer the most value to your organization?

We were very honored to have, throughout the course of our survey process, to hear our clients mention nearly every single department at least once. From accounting to production we had someone show appreciation for just about all aspects of our business. There were, however, several things that rose above the rest: distribution and fulfillment, e-commerce, understanding of our client’s corporate environment, and our creative team.

It was good to know that many of our clients see us in very much the same light that we see ourselves. We view these things as our real separators within our industry, and in the end, there were few surprises here.

What competitor’s services/products provide better value than what is offered by Powertex? Why are they better for your organization?

There were lots of suggestions for more e-commerce and customization options

There were a lot of different suggestions, but what it boils down to is the following areas were mentioned the most: More on-demand production (pointing to direct-print competitors), Several E-Commerce features that are offered in the marketplace that we should look at (especially at the entry level), better call center (dealer relations) integrations, more creative product ideas at better prices, more name brand options, and more international marketing/distribution options.

The good thing about this list: 5 out of 6 of them have some solutions being developed, tested, or are ready to launch this year. You can bet we’ll be revisiting each of these near-term, and we are already discussing the remaining item on the list. More to come on our solutions as we get closer to wrapping them up and rolling them out.

Are there ways in which we can further save you valuable time in terms of our business relationship?

Some suggestions were for more timely, comprehensive reporting.

We didn’t get a lot of feedback on this question. What we did get broke down for the most part, in the following two suggestions:  better and more timely sales/information reporting (i.e. sales data-item breakdowns etc.), and a greater selection of sure ship items (i.e. items available within 48 hours to 10 days of order).

We are always looking to get better and more timely information to our clients, and we are currently researching create a client dashboard of sorts, where clients of all types can log in to take the pulse of their programs in real-time. As far as the sure-ship items, we just released our new ’10 catalog this week, and we will be revisiting that soon, due to its popularity.

If you could change one thing about our business relationship, what would that be?

Our clients asked us to look at better ways to turn inventories and provide even lower pricing

The most common responses to this question were; to look at working out more programs to better turn certain inventoried items, and provide even lower prices.

With regards to the inventory issues and lower prices; those are projects that are ALWAYS in progress. They both require our organization to walk the fine line between flexibility and competitiveness. We are looking into revisiting our sourcing, warehousing, and distribution methods in order to try to develop new solutions for each of these. These are at the core of what we do, and we need to be constantly pushing the envelope one these.

Do you have any ideas on how we can increase the value we provide to your organization through additional products and/or services?

Our clients asked for new international distribution options.

What our clients’ said: Better international shipping/distribution options, improvements in reporting and transparency in billing and shipping, developing a combined platform where we can combine our clients’ vendors with our own offerings (i.e. sell parts, accessories, and branded merchandise from a completely managed platforms), more options for product customization and individual item customization.

What we say: We are on it. Many of these items have already been discussed internally, and several of them are already in progress.  We are not surprised at these entries, because they have come up across many different client types. Most of these were touched on in the feedback above as well, and we see each of these four projects as being key to improving our service levels to our clients.

All in all, there weren’t too many surprises that came up within this survey process. There did result, in our conversations, a lot useful suggestions on HOW BEST to accomplish these needs for our clients. For that, we would like to extend a sincere thank you to all who participated. Your feedback is essential in helping us get better, and remaining competitive in our market. We will be providing updates on where we are with our service offerings throughout the year. There is a lot in store already, and we are looking forward to an exciting 2010.

For those who have other feedback or suggestions for any of the content in this survey, we would be glad to take our feedback as well. We need to know how what we can do to not only provide value, but what we can do to become invaluable. To submit your feedback, please call us at: (800) 588-7111 (and talk to your sales rep), or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com.

Alpha Shirts; Wide Product Line, Available Inventory, Great Value

Alpha Shirts; a key Powertex Group promotional product partner

Most people don’t realize it, but they have likely worn or at least seen one garment provided by Alpha Shirt Company at some point in their life. With the largest in-stock shirt selection anywhere, and their suite of high-quality brands, Powertex’s partnership with Alpha gives us a leg-up on the competition. This month, we are going to take a look at what separates Alpha from the competition, and why they are on Powertex Group’s preferred vendor list.

History:

American Apparel is just one of the many brands offered by Alpha

Alpha was founded in 1931 as a wholesaler of mens dress shirts, hosiery, and undergarments in the New England area. The organization, at that time, provided products to accessory and sportswear outlets. It wasn’t until the 70’s that Alpha began to radically evolve as into the organization we know today. It was at that time the imprintable t-shirt industry was really taking shape, and Alpha aggressively hitched their businesses model to this rising trend to much success.

Fast forward through incorporation in the 1990’s and rapid expansion that continues even today, and we have the industry leader you see today.

The Alpha Advantage:

The numbers are impressive: 2.5 million square feet of warehousing space, 35 different product lines, 18 distribution centers nation-wide and expanded 1-day delivery service. It is easy to be impressed with the scale of Alpha’s organization. However, what really separates Alpha from their competition are the unquantifiable aspects of their business.

Alpha Shirts is a provider of high-end brands such as Devon & Jones

Despite their immense size, Alpha has never lost sight of their commitment to customer service and customer satisfaction.  As a promotional partner, Alpha Shirts has consistently delivered on goods and within time lines that many other vendors won’t or can’t. Their organization understands their customer’s needs, and will go out of their way to ensure our clients get the products they need, when they need them, and at a fair price.

Casting a wide net:

Alpha offers over 800 unique products spread across 35 brand names. Their offerings include: t-shirts, fleece wear, sport shirts, wovens, outerwear, hats, bags, and accessories. Alpha’s items are featured under several partner brands including names such as Dickies, Champion, and Adidas Golf. Factor in their own various private labels, Devon & Jones, Hyp, and Authentic Pigment, for an incredibly wide catalog of quality products. From ultra-trendy garments to business wear, you’ll likely find what you are looking for with Alpha.

Delivering when it counts:

One of the major contributors to Alpha’s success is their expertise in strategically positioning their distribution centers across the U.S. for quick fulfillment. Alpha Shirts features 18 distribution centers nation-wide with 8 of them labeled as Express Centers. These Express centers are stocked with only the most popular styles for quick shipment. This leaves Alpha strategically positioned to get their most popular items to almost anywhere nation-wide within a day. Their distribution network ships thousands of shipments to hundreds of locations each day. With over 2.5million square feet of warehousing space, their ample inventories drastically increase the odds that Powertex, in partnership with Alpha, can get your items to you for your next tight deadline.

Alpha has a number of strategically positioned distribution centers around the U.S. for quick turnaround times.

Business and promotions move fast. You need not only committed partners, but strategically positioned partners to get you the products you need. That is why Powertex depends on Alpha Shirts as one of our preferred core vendors. They are one of several keys in providing our customers the highest service levels available. To learn more about our key partners and how we can impact your organization, give us a call at (800) 588-7111, or email us at customerservice@powertexgroup.com.

The Saturn Collection online store responds to recent announcements by slashing its prices by up to 80%.

Saturn Clearance Sale, Huge Savings on Saturn Branded Merchandise

The surprise announcement that GM will be shuttering the Saturn brand has seen wide-spread effects across all industries. Powertex Group of Eau Claire, WI, who is the current sole licensed provider and reseller of Officially Licensed Saturn Product, has reacted to the shocking revelations by slashing prices on the Saturn Collection online store.

According to Gray Powers, Vice President of Powertex Group, “It is really unfortunate that we have to close up shop on this excellent program we have in place for the folks over at Saturn. We really were able to gain some momentum in the program, even in a down year for auto makers.” He continued, “It’s just a shame that everyone is going to lose a great brand that has developed so many industry-leading innovations over the years.”

Powertex Group is aggressively clearing out the remaining Licensed Saturn Collection Merchandise. Visit http://www.saturncollection.com for huge discounts on all products. With everything on sale from 50% to 80% off, you’ll be sure to find some great deals on all Saturn branded clothing, caps and accessories. Offer good while supplies last!

Get more marketing punch with a full-service promotional provider:

We all know the value of a fully realized and well implemented marketing program and the value it can bring to your organization. But does your organization have the know-how and resources to implement a large scale

Licensed Promotional Goods

promotional branding campaign? How about the infrastructure to supply the promotional products to the locations you need? With a large scale promotional campaign comes many different logistics issue that may be expensive and time-consuming to solve.

That is where a promotional licensing relationship can be beneficial. By bringing in a full-scale promotional partner, you can save considerable time and money by utilizing the pre-existing infrastructure that a high-end partner brings. In addition, you can take advantage of the wealth of promotional experience that a specialized promotional company has already accumulated.

In a licensing arrangement, the promotional marketing company becomes a member of your organization and assumes a major part of the responsibility of making your branding initiatives successful. This ensures a close working relationship, and is the closest thing you can have to an extension of your own marketing department.

Experience counts. When you have a promotional partner, you automatically gain access to the full experience derived from dealing with countless other clients in countless other situations. Get invaluable advice on what works, and how to build your program. Stop throwing money around on “best guess” scenarios, and focus on proven tactics and tested models. This will not only help your organization to build its brand, but save considerable money by investing in more effective programs.

When building a promotional program, you not only need to consider what the message is, but how the program will be implemented into your pre-existing business model, and how it will be fulfilled and maintained. Implementation and proper maintenance is where a vast majority of promotions fail, as they are often the most overlooked and under-planned aspects. A proper promotional partner will have an infrastructure in place that will make it cost-effective and simple to maintain and fulfill the program.

Another thing that your promotional partner will bring to the table is a flexible range of assets and abilities to help you successfully launch your projects. From art and design, to full promotional line creation, to online technologies, to warehousing and comprehensive distribution capabilities, the extra capabilities that your partner offers

Putting it Together with Promotional Programs

will give you the proper support in areas that you need to ensure a successful program. This adds strength to your organization by giving you the proper supplement in areas where you may not be as strong or as experienced. This can add much value in that it saves you the very costly measure of having to build a separate department or add employees to compensate for your new marketing programs.

With a promotional licensing program, not only do you gain a new promotional partner, but you can gain valuable marketing experience, save time/money, and hone your marketing focus. In the branding world, the possibilities are almost endless, and it can definitely be helpful to have an experienced promotional partner in reaching your full branding potential. To learn more about the benefits of a licensing deal or gain a new partner in your promotional marketing endeavors, give us a call today at (800) 588-7111. Email us at customerservice@powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.

Publishing and direct mail services are examples of important value added services

There are a number of ways in which businesses attempt to differentiate themselves within the modern business arena. The most obvious of these methods are branding and product/service design. However, one of the most important methods of differentiation is through value added services. Virtually all growing organizations owe at least part of their success to their commitment to their value added services. This is, in large part, because these services can: save money, allow for more flexibility, increase convenience, save time, and make happier customers. This is why it is important to consider value added services when choosing a promotional products company.

What is a value added service exactly? According to Michael Pynch CMA, CPA Director – Business Consulting at Wipfli, “A value added service is any service that is offered as a complement to a standard product or service that a company sells. Value added services may be included in the price of the standard product or service or may be priced separately.” He continues, “In this fast paced service-based economy, exceeding customer expectations is the key to a positive buying experience. Value added services are important to consumers as they address the need for convenience and provide a means to get more for your money.” And most importantly, “Companies use value added services to differentiate what they do from their competitors. There are so many products and services that have become commodities that companies have to be creative and look for ways to influence customers to buy from them. When consumers view the products of two separate companies as the same, then the easiest way to compare the products is by price. Value added services offer companies a way to contrast what they provide, and challenge customers to determine the overall value of the product/service rather than just price shopping.”

We use value added services all the time. Sometimes we pay for them, sometimes we don’t, but they are always designed to enhance our overall experience. They are so ingrained in our daily lives that we often don’t notice them until they are missing. My local grocery store has a library drop box outside the front door. 1 Hour photo labs have been a fixture in big box retail stores for years now. FedEx-Kinko’s is one of the most excellent examples of value added mastery. After having your items printed there, you could take to another entity to have them shipped, but why would you? They can give you a competitive price, while shipping your package in minutes. So simple.

Wordlwide distribution services allow you to get your products to their destinations on time.

In the world of promotional products, value added services take on a critical significance. There are literally thousands of organizations that can make a logoed pen, or a custom t-shirt. Where the great divide occurs in the promotional products industry is in value added services. The organizations that go well beyond just providing products are few and far between.

When you are searching for someone to provide products for your next promotion, you will definitely want an organization that can bring more flexibility and value. One that can combine services to help you source, produce, warehouse, deliver, market, and merchandise your products can make your promotions much more effective and cost efficient than trying to do it all yourself. A good promotional partner can shorten the supply chain through value added services and can be a single source for your promotional needs. They can also eliminate many of the barriers to creating and maintaining an effective program, since they will have the infrastructure to deal with marketing, managing the inventory of, and distributing your promotional items. Chances are, a top-notch promotional product company will have the ability to effectively run most aspects of your program for far less money than it would cost you to set it up from scratch. They will become more than your supplier, they will become your partner in promoting a truly successful promotional program.

If you are interested in finding a full service promotional products company, call Powertex. Our powerful combination of value added services can help you build, implement, and maintain your next promotional program. Give us a call today at (800) 588-7111, or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com. Visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.