IDENTITY EDGE JUL2018 American Solutions

www.americanbus.com

800-862-3690

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ummer is a special time for promotions. Both you and your competitors are busy trying to win as much market share as you can.

And believe it, it’s a very competitive market.

Many companies win over customers by creating a connection to their community and its residents whereby they “give back” to the community in many different ways.

Even though the newspapers print all the bad stuff, the community will remember the good things your company did and reward you with business.

And Summer is a great time to do it. People—your consumers—are more receptive during the Summer.

They’ve shed their heavy winter

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clothes and are welcoming in the warm rays of the Summer and having some fun.

That’s why Summer promotions are the most highly attended events and generally you get the biggest bang

for your buck. And why not! Think about it, have you ever attended an outside event where promotional products were NOT used? People attend these events where they are ALWAYS given some sort of

promotional product.

In this issue of IdentityEdge.Promo we talk extensively about the Logistics and Distribution of your products once you’ve purchased them. That’s equally as important at the choice of product was in the first place. Advertising in all forms has differences but everyone should focus on cementing characteristics like Branding & Impressions that make sales. Promotional products brand better than many other types of advertising.

The more you Brand the more impressions you’ll get. That always translates into sales.

From all of us at IdentityEdge, we wish you a wonderful and safe Fourth of July celebration.

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Review & The Best Pages

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Imprinting the products you purchase with the right technique

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6 Do’s and Don’ts of Promotional Product Marketing

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Trump Trade War

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Why Promotional Products Still Matter

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Case Study: Custom Flash Drive USB Lanyards Drive Trade Show Booth Traffic

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Got a Pen? How to Grow and Differentiate Your Brand with Promotional Products

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Case Study: Promotional Products for Lenders

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What Are The Top 10 Most Effective Promotional Items?

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Case Study: Practical Keytags Showcase Brand to Expand Clientele

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Case Study: Sitting Pretty — High School Uses Folding Chair Promotion to Raise Funds

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What’s In A Name?

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irst and foremost, if you’re spending good money on a good product your logo better look great. We, as your Distributors, know what looks best, but we suggest that you “step out” of your comfort zone every once in a while and imprint your products in an unusual way, try a style that’ll have significant “wow” factor.

If you want to see all the top decorating techniques, click here.

When you click through you’ll find detailed information on 30 decorating ideas. This should help you because sometimes the choices given for imprint areas and processes can be a little overwhelming. What’s the difference between debossing and embossing? Will a screen print or laser engraved logo look better on my promotional pen?

To make the selection process a little easier, we’ve put together this quick supplement on the different imprint processes and some of the products that they look best on.

Screen Printing. This process

makes use of spot colors—from a precise color matching system called PMS and a screen to transfer your logo onto your selected item. Screens are made of nylon or polyester and covered by an inverse image, so ink

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can only be printed as your logo.

The ink is then spread across the screen and transferred to the surface. Screen printing is generally the most inexpensive option.

Virtually any plastic, metal or fabric item can be printed with screen printing

Digital Printing. When

you want to print your logo to look like a magazine ad (the highest quality printing available), Screen Printing can do it, but won’t produce an image as sharp as Digital Printing. If you want the quality taking that step up and moving to digital printing, or full color printing will make your promotional product the very best they can look. This process makes use of physical printers instead of screens and generally allows you to print over the entire surface. This type of printing can relieve millions of colors.

Digital printing is also referred to as CMYK, full-color printing, color burst, and 4-color process printing.

Some products to use with digital printing: Mouse pads, magnets, and, most wearables, and note pads.

Heat Transfer. I

think most of us have used an iron to press a decal or image onto a shirt. It’s a simple process where printers use intense heat and pressure to force the image from a transfer sheet on to the promotional product. Heat transfer is sometimes the only option if you want to create a sophisticated logo with more than one color.

Heat transfer works great with Tote bags and t-shirts and almost any wearable.

Laser Engraving. This process

creates sharp, crystal-clear logos that are unable to be peeled off. Without ink or tool bits, this process is simple, clean, and easy. Logos are programmed into the laser software and then executed onto your items.

If available, you can also opt for oxidation.

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The Do’s 1. Do: Always Focus on Your Target Audience Get to know who your current customers are, and then you can really target them and new customers. It’s imperative to know your target audience before choosing your promotional products.

Providing your recipients with items they will actually use and be interested in, well then, everyone wins! Your dollars get great use, you gain brand recognition and you’ll see ROI. Your customers win because they receive free product that they’re into.

are better served with a true buyer.

Each campaign or event may have a different recipient list, and as we learned in the first “Do,” you must know who your audience is. Once last thought, as you figure out the best way to reach your recipients, make sure your promotional products fit the plan.

For example, a bulky, branded piece of apparel--like a hooded sweatshirtmay not be a great idea for a trade show giveaway. People probably won’t want to carry it around all day and they might not have space in their luggage to bring it home.

Giving this product to employees as an appreciation gift, however, makes much more sense.

3. Do: Add a Call to Action What’s your objective? Is it for the recipient to visit your website? Or, is it to engage in your social media? Or to buy your product/service? Usually you are not giving a product away “just because” it feels good; instead, go one step beyond just giving something away, and incorporate a Call-to-Action (CTA) with the product.

It’s a sure-fired way to get something back in return.

2. Do: Carefully Design the Distribution of Your Promotional Products Laying out the exact plan to determine exactly who should receive your promos and how is critical. Giving your walking ads to people that can’t buy your service still gets impressions, but they 18 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

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Don’ts 4. Don’t: This Can Make You or Break Your Program…DON’T Wait Until the Last Minute to Order If you want the best promotional product for your marketing campaign be sure to plan way ahead and order in advance. A lot of decisions go into even a simple product like a pen.

Leave time for those decisions. You may not realize it, but there are tons of options available: 1. Blue or black ink refills?

2. Rollerball, Ballpoint or Marker Style?

3. Rubberized grip or metal?

be finished. But wait, now it has to be packed and shipped. Everybody thinks that is the easiest part but it’s not. Shipping is critical because if it takes five days to go from coast-tocoast and you need the product in three, things can go awfully array.

You could, at worst, miss your event date.

As your Distributor we cannot emphasize enough times that by planning ahead, you will make the best product decisions, allow the creative process to really flourish and have time to receive samples (as needed) without paying for rush delivery charges.

5. Don’t: Use of Generic Items Might Have a Negative Effect

4. One-color logo or full-color logo?

5. Click or spin? ...and the list goes on which is true for a lot of products. But… not every product has as many options.

Be aware that these orders take time, as these products are customized to make your brand stand out. Here’s how that pen order is cycled by our factory.

Day one, your order goes in with the art and instructions for shipping.

Day two, we provide a proof. Day three your order is set up on the production floor and we check to see if the printing proof matches your art proof. Day three or four can be the beginning of production and

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If you use items that people have already received a ton of, such as a stress ball or a cheap key chain, your product (and money) might just end up in the trash. If this is what happens to your giveaway, do not expect an effective impact. You can ensure your promotional product is held onto and remembered by making it useful, creative, high-quality and innovative.

Impressions are the name of the

game with any advertising!

Some items, like wearables… specifically t-shirts…will always be valued no matter how generic.

6. Don’t: Make It Difficult to Implement With too many twists in your implementation, something will always break in the delivery chain. Make sure your marketing campaign and the presentation of your promotional items is not overly complex. For example, if you are exchanging a promotional product for an e-mail address at a trade show make the process simple with a business card drop or a quick form on an iPad. The more difficult you make the process, the harder meeting your objective will be.

Promotional product marketing is a great way to enhance the marketing your company is already doing. It gets your brand out there, starts a conversation with potential customers and lasts longer than other forms of advertising. Statistics prove its effectiveness, and by using these tips to optimize your campaign, you’re more likely to increase your ROI. We know that choosing the best products for your brand, audience, message and budget can be a difficult task. Luckily, we as your Distributors, can conceive and execute promotional and marketing products designed precisely to your specifications and business needs. Let our creativity and experience work for you!

Don’t Despair.

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ards

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With Our Fashionable Binder-Pen COMBO Two Imprints for the Price of ONE! FREE!

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The Trade War with China Could Escalate Quickly

Trade & Tarriff

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ou might have missed it: President Trump’s trade war with China ratcheted up so quickly most people missed it. On June 15th Trump announced tariffs on $20 billion worth of Chinese imports. Within minutes China responded in kind which then prompted Trump three days later to place an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to target. Trump is threatening to levy another $450 billion.

According to Time Magazine, “… escalating tariffs represents the fulfillment of a campaign promise to crack down on Beijing to reduce the US trade deficit in order to support 24 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

American jobs.” But while that might seem logical—indeed Trump’s tariffs were provoked because China trade practices have been condemned as unfair—this will end up raising prices at home and globally for many different industries, including promotional products. Harley Davidson, citing it will cost their consumers $2,000 more per motorcycle due to the tariffs will move some of its manufacturing off shore. Arguing that trade wars are a dangerous game that will hurt the economy at home and globally, China is known to have significant staying power to outlast the USA in any trade war. Don’t forget China is the USA’s largest trading partner.

Also at issue is they want to assimilate American technology for free.

You may not have felt the pinch of the trade war yet, but if things continue as they are—rapidly

escalating—large swaths of the American public will suffer increased prices on many products. That’s sure to slow the economic recovery, but as importantly, give other countries hungry for China’s trade dollars an opening to trade where the USA once had locked up the business. This will hurt the farmers who sell soybeans, orange juice, steel, solar, washing machine/auto makers, Silicone Valley and more.

We’re all hoping for a happy ending.

IdentityEdge has been reporting on this for the past seven months and we’ll be sure to keep you informed each month. The potential for this trade war to effect prices could raise the cost of promotional products quite a bit. Buy now, prices are sure to go up later this year if the trade war continues.

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o matter where we turn, there is advertising in some form or another. As a result marketing has become an incredibly clever form of publicity. Whether it’s a television ad, bus ad, magazine ad, online banner, social media or a sponsored ad, it is never ending. The problem for many is how do you cope with this on a limited budget? Every company, no matter how big or small, has to find their niche to reach their customers.

But, more traditional forms of advertising--such as Promotional Products-are still going strong.

In fact, promotional products are an incredibly powerful marketing tool.

Every day we encounter promotional products…there’s not one day that you don’t see dozens of them. Whether is someone doing an personal endorsement of your brand by wearing a shirt with your logo on it, to someone carrying a logoed backpack, your brand is getting more 26 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

brand, associate your brand and recognize your brand. All these things are important as the more people who become aware of your brand - the better results you will see in business and sales.

What items should I use for Promotional Products?

Well, a lot of the time it depends what your business actually is and what your budget is too. Both th ese things are likely to influence the type of promotional product you opt for. In general though, most companies tend to opt for things such as:

exposures than your competition.

What is the Point of Releasing Promotional Products?

Branding is the most important thing, that’s something all marketing department agree on. Promotional products allow people to see your

- Stationary: notepads, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers - Bags: could include purses - Business items: business card holder, address book, laptop sleeve - Desk Accessories: Mugs, Glass, Calendars - Clothing: T-shirts, caps, hats, socks, gloves, sweat bands All toll there are over 700,000 choices for promotional products.

While many of the abovementioned items are the most commonly used-you really can be inventive with this.

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Client: Electronics Manufacturer Project: Making Sure Trade Show Attendees Get Info After the Show

In order to be the provider of lanyards at a trade show you have to generally have some big bucks because the costs are high. Normally you have to pay a fee to the owner of the trade show in addition to the cost of the lanyards. But it can really be worth it if you want almost EVERYONE who

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attends the show to go home with your info.

How was this accomplished? A USB lanyard was a great fit for them. Not only did they get the impressions at the show because everyone at the show was wearing their logo, but in addition the USB drive contained a presentation about the sponsoring electronics company.

So while was expensive it was also extremely effective. They got a huge number of impressions but also a great “take away” featuring their products and services. As soon as the USB drive was plugged into the show attendees computer a presentation popped up on the screen.

Target Audience: Tradeshow attendees

Objective: Get optimum exposure by sponsoring lanyards which will provide “after show” marketing material about the company. Retain company awareness to prospects and clients after the event. Provide company capabilities presentation that would be easily accessible and memorable after the show.

Solution: Client distributed 3,000 1G USB Drives with custom lanyard to show attendees who are current and potential customers. Wearing the drive around their neck made them a walking billboard for the company throughout the trade show. The incentive to wear it? Recipients were allowed free, unlimited access to the relaxation booth at the trade show, they were placed in a drawing for a free gift inside the booth, and they took home the unique USB drive with pre-loaded with information about the company and its services at their fingertips.

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recent study by an industry source found that promotional products are highly impactful and cost-effective advertising mediums for businesses. The study concluded that:

can identify who they are the better you will be able to pick promotional products that target your audience will enjoy or find extremely useful.

programmed on that promotional device. But that programming also extends too many other products, like simple calendars.

Determine Your Budget

85% of people surveyed remember the name of a company that gave them a promotional product, and 87% of consumers keep promotional products for longer than a year.

Compare that to a radio or TV that lasts just 30 seconds to a minute for impressions. Half of all people who own promotional drinkware use it 2-3 times per week, and a whopping 91% of people who own promotional USB drives keep them. No matter which products you choose, calculating ROI can be challenging, but we’re going to provide some simple formulas to determine the cost you pay per impression.

As you can imagine promotional products range in price from pennies to many dollars. Couple the cost of the product you choose with the volume of products you need and that will give you a solid budget.

Distribution is frequently the Missing Link

Finding the right promotional product for your business is easy. As your Promotional Products Distributor we’ve got tons of ideas and can direct you through the maze to find the right product.

It Pays to Know Your Target Audience Don’t just think you know your client base, find out everything you can about them. The better you 34 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

After finding the perfect promotional products, the next step is to get them into the hands of your clients. Getting them to the right customer is key so take some time to plan this part out carefully. We can help you, just contact us.

Ensure Products are Well Designed and Calculating ROI on Promotional Products High Quality ROI on promotional Whatever your products is not as easy to budget, the measure as the ROI from, research is clear! say, a digital marketing The promotional campaign. products you buy need to be used for an extended period, so the quality needs to be there.

Inform Your Customers USB drives and many other products can contain additional information about your company if that data is

No. of items

Impressions per Product

Total Spent

Promotional products are heavily focussed on impressions - the number of people who actually see your product.

Cost per item

No. of Items

Total Impressions

Total Spent

Total Impressions

Cost per Impression

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Client: Local Credit Union Project: Showcase various financing options during week-long celebration of 1 billion dollar in loans.

Target Audience: Credit union customers

Objective: Provide a unique solution that gives credit union

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customers visual insight into all financing options the credit union has to offer.

Solution: During this week long celebration the Credit Union handed out promotional products that embodied all of their various loan types. For motorcycle insurance they gave out custom motorcycle stress relievers. For car loans they

provided visor holders. Home equity loans were represented with multitool keychains and signature loans with Post-itÂŽ pens.

Related Items: Similar products used within this cases study include: personalized tools, personalized keychains, stress relievers and auto accessories.

Bank Giveaways?

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K, did we say Top Ten? Yes we did…but with 700,000 promotional products, we had a really hard time sifting through the hottest picks.

Our informal survey didn’t focus entirely on market statistics or market share for each of the product categories listed below. What we did was conduct an informal survey asking consumers to name their favorite promotional products. We think that just might be a better way to determine what are the best promotional products and that’s to hear from people on the street. Here’s our results.

Promotional Apparel Apparel is always the most popular at any event. Make it a t-shirt, hat, sweatshirt, etc. People love to wear apparel because of the causes they support.

any kind of tote that can hold popular items like iphones, computers and sports equipment.

Desk Accessories

Writing Instruments

Backpacks and Tote Bags Backpacks and promotional bags are valued by recipients because they have a higher perceived value and are useful products. This can include 50 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

There are millions of choices in this category. There are a wide variety of items from markers, to pens, pencils and can include inexpensive pens to the nice gift sets, all with your event logo.

Everybody competes for Desktop advertising that we know. Give someone a useful desk item with your logo and they see it every day!

Items like post-it notes, paper clip dispensers, letter openers, pen/ pencil holders and more. Use your imagination.

Coffee mugs will always be a big Desktop item.

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Drinkware Travel mugs, coffee cups, water bottles and tumblers are always effective giveaways that a donor will keep and possibly use every day.

displayed on a refrigerator or file cabinet it’s always in plain view.

Automotive/Tool Accessories Emergency kits and ice scrapers come in handy during the cold winter months. Portable tool kits, flashlights and cup holders are items everyone with a car can use regularly.

Computer/Electronic Accessories Notebooks & Portfolios Along with a writing instrument, people are always looking for something to keep their notes in and be organized. A great way to keep your nonprofit’s name in front of them every single day.

USB flash drives, mouse pads, iPad and cell phone holders are highly in demand as items that will be used daily especially the travel items like portable batteries for phones and computers.

Although this is the top 10, there are still so many options that might be a better fit for you and your target audience.

Sporting Goods

Magnets Available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes (the most popular being business card magnets or calendars), promotional magnets clearly display contact information, or date reminders. How about the picture frame magnets with your brand identity and since they are typically 52 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

Sunglasses, golf balls, foam balls, stadium cushions, blankets and umbrellas all are popular items.

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Objective: Showcase company by creating a technological item that will be used on a daily basis.

Challenge: A law firm was looking for a specific promotional product. They wanted a product that company employees could take to the District Attorney’s office or US Attorney’s office in order to obtain discovery (documents and/or pictures) to use in cases.

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Solution: A key tag with a USB drive on it that would enable thousands of pages or documents to be downloaded into a super convenient traveling container was chosen.

Results: The results were incredible. The product was able to brand the firm’s name, while also

being used for getting things done.

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Description: Foldable Chair with drink holders

Industry: Education/Sports

What it was purchased for: A

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high school wanted to purchase an item they could resell to the parents in the spirit shop for fundraising dollars for the sports teams. Folding chairs were a great choice since buyers could use them for seating during the games and also afterwards.

How it was distributed: It was sold in the spirit shop, which was open during the actual sporting events.

Result or ROI: The spirit shop sold out the first week of school and has since reordered several times.

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Promoting Their Customer’s Name in Concert with their Brand Reverses Cokes Decade Long Slide in Sales

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ales of Coke climb significantly after Coca-Cola start putting people’s names on cans and bottles combining it with their logo!

Sales of Coke rose significantly since the world’s best-known drinks brand started printing people’s names on its labels. Under the initiative, shoppers could choose personalized bottles and cans of Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero carrying names from Alex to Zoe and endearing terms such as “Friends” and “BFF”. The marketing plan–designed to get consumers to buy drinks for friends and family as well as themselves--have paid off: It reversed a 10 year decline in consumption in the US, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But let’s take a look at what happened on the internet and all the free branding Coke got with this very clever branding campaign.

Instagram was swamped with people posting more than 500,000 photos with the hashtag #shareacoke, including some from animal lovers who’d bought 60 IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

bottles for their pets. A story on the Coca-Cola Facebook page reported a man proposing to his girlfriend Eloise with a collection of the bottles arranged to create the message “Beautiful Eloise Will You Marry Me”.

bottles. Shoppers were encouraged to “Share A Coke” with their “Mum, Dad, Bro, Sis, Mate, Bestie” or show loved ones they cared by picking up a drink with “Gorgeous” and “Bestie” on the label.

In the US, Coke used the 250 most popular first names, with Chris, Jess and Alex, among the most stocked in store. It also printed out more than one million personalized cans with more than 100,000 names and sold them from roving kiosks. Alyssa and Shane Lescalleet, a couple from Lancaster, Ohio, said they spent the summer hunting for bottles with their names on and vowed to keep them ‘forever’. In the UK, the firm replaced its logo with around 1,000 names and also added nicknames on cans and

What does Coke’s success story suggest as an application for the promotional products industry?

Personal branding—in addition to your logo--can dramatically increase your marketing campaign’s effectiveness. While you might think going to this level of personalization is impossible, it can be done using the right digital printer and product.

Doing so will make your promotional product a forever keeper and your branding efforts will continue for years.

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Creative Solutions!

We Give You the Low-down on Five BIG Success Stories August’s Scorching Temps Present Some Really COOL Opportunities for Branding Get Ready for Back-to-School Promotions & Help Your Community at the Same Time Vacation Promotions...

Co-oping Holiday Packages with NonCompeting Businesses Makes Total Sense Hot Summer Products!

Plan Your Fall Promos Now...

Get Ready for Back-to-School Promotions & Help Your Community at the Same Time Great Ideas for Labor Day Promotions Trade Wars... Our Update Get the Low Down and Save Money Combining Promotions with Digital Media Gives You an Opportunity to Measure Branding & Number of Impressions Check Out Our Plan Why We Love Promotions Promotions are Part of Our Daily Life & Make Things Better IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO 65