There may still be snow on the ground but discussing promotions now with clients has many benefits. Before discussing client benefits, think about what you get from being out in front of the competition. The most obvious is that you essentially lock in the future promotion. Also, the early decision on summer promos, allow additional promotions to be designed that lead up to the primary summer promo.
For example, a summer promotion for a car dealer offering a six-pack cooler to prospects that take a test drive between June first and the Fourth of July, is giving insulated tumblers to showroom shoppers during the month of May. The dealer will have the promo items displayed with the cars.
While working on summer promotions now will likely be well accepted by forward looking clients, the reality will be that some will still wait until the last minute to try to get a promo in place. By shifting some of the clients to early decisions (and orders), you will have the time and attention to give good service to the late comers.
Benefits for clients begin with no rushed planning. In fact, putting together summer promotions now can easily become the marketing schedule for the entire year. Many clients will appreciate your attention to advanced planning and welcome getting their promotional marketing figured out early.
Disappointment resulting from desired goods being unavailable (sold out) are eliminated. Having virtually everything the promo industry has to offer will allow final decisions to be made based on strongest value and best message delivery - not on what is still available. Having the goods for the summer promotion in hands precludes any possibility of shipping problems or a need for costly expedited delivery.
Mistakes do happen but working well in advance of actual distribution allows for examination of the promo goods and plenty of time to deal with any problem that might show up. Another area that takes time to firm up is final distribution to the end user. From the Post Office to UPS or hand delivery to trade shows, specific arrangements are necessary and costs and requirements from different services can be compared. To be sure the promotion takes place on time, advanced planning is essential. Working summer promotions now makes this possible without any pressure.
The world supply chain has put pricing pressure on virtually all consumer goods and the promo industry is not immune. Suppliers have to price based on future inventory costs rather than on the cost of current inventory. This makes future pricing increases likely. Getting summer promotions in place now eliminates this concern.
While it is reasonable to wonder if great specials or discounts might become available as summer approaches, keep in mind that only goods that were over priced, uninteresting to clients or both, are generally offered for these reduced costs. Building summer promotions now will give clients a first class promo that will meet their expectations.
Highlighting one of my favorite promotional products media, perfect for summer promotion is the academic year calendar. Message delivery for this product is huge with many ad exposures every day. Imprint space is generally abundant and depending on order and product specifics, additional customization may be available.
One of the best annual projects I did for several years was academic year calendars. A well known college shop featuring all kinds of goods university students desired, was a customer of my printing company. We printed a large full color poster for this shop each year. We started working on the project in February each year to be sure posters were available throughout the summer and absolutely by the time fall classes began.
I suggested that adding academic calendars would be a great investment for them and showed them a few examples I had sold to other businesses. That resulted in a 5,000 unit order. The following year and for several years after that the order doubled. The abundance of academic year calendars on line simply demonstrate the desire for this product. It is also interesting that consumer prices for these calendars are 3 times more than typical calendars from our promotional industry.
Warm things up with summer promotions!
Gregg Emmer managed Kaeser & Blair’s marketing, catalog publishing and vendor relations for more than 30 years. Prior to arriving at K&B in 1991 he owned and operated a graphic communication company featuring promotional products and full service printing. Today Emmer’s consulting work provides marketing, public relations and business planning consulting to a wide range of businesses including promotional industry suppliers, venture capital and market research companies. If you are interested in growing your business (or privately commenting on articles) contact Gregg at gregg.promopro@gmail.com.