Month: July 2023

Items To Fill Your Promotional Tote Bags With To Make Them More Successful

So, your company has just decided to improve their marketing strategy and has decided to start using promotional tote bags. These bags by themselves will greatly improve your customer base and help you increase sales of your product or service. However, why not take it to the next level? By including other promotional items in the bags, you will be able to improve the success of your business even more.

Promotional Items You Should Include In Your Bags

Everyone loves free gifts. That is why tote bags work so well for marketing campaigns. These bags can be given to your customers in the office, at special events, or may even be distributed by a partner company. The bags can include the name of your company or your business’ unique logo.

When customers receive promotional gifts like these types of bags, it brands your company into their minds. Each time they use the tote bag, they are reminded of your company and the event where they received it. You can provide them with the same great memories more often by placing other items in the bags they can use over and over again.

Here are some products you might want to place in the bags.

  • Pens and Stationery- Your customers use pens and stationery almost every day. Whether they are jotting down a list of chores to do around the house, creating a grocery list, or simply writing a note to their loved one, make sure they are thinking of your company while they do it.

  • Corporate Clothing-While you may think that corporate clothing is something to be reserved for employees only, it can be a great advertising tool. When you give away free hats, t-shirts, polos, and jackets, you are creating walking advertisements. Just think of how many individuals will see your customers sporting a shirt with your logo on it and will come to you for their next purchase.

  • Coffee Mugs- Coffee mugs are a great way to promote your business. Your customers will use them every morning to drink their morning cup of Joe and may even take the mug into the office, where all of their co-workers can see your company name.

  • Lanyards- Lanyards are excellent advertising tools because customers can wear them around their neck, right at eye level. They may use them to hold their name tags, keys, or even their cell phone.

  • Water Bottles- Do you want to show your clients that you are environmentally friendly? Put a water bottle in their tote bag. Thousands of plastic bottles fill landfills every year, and one of the easiest solutions to this problem is using re-usable water bottles. Your clients will not only remember your company every time they take a sip, but they will know you love the environment and want to make the world a better place.

  • Key Chains- Who doesn’t love a new dangly keychain? Print your name or logo on a colourful keychain and place it in a tote bag so your customer can see it each time they open their front door or start their car.

Tote bags are great promotional items. Combine these bags with other great advertising products to help your business be even more successful.

Promotional Gifts for Winter Promotions

Winter may mean dark nights and frost bite to some but in the promotional products world a change in season brings new marketing opportunities! Many seasonal items can be branded with your company logo and contact details and winter products are often very practical in nature. Practical items are typically kept and used by the recipients, sometimes even year to year, and as a result are a sound investment for any promotion and marketing initiative.

There are a wide range of products suitable for winter promotions ranging from classic best sellers such as thermal travel mugs, to modern fashion favourites like the Beanie Hat. Other very portable best sellers include the promotional umbrella and the reusable hand warmer; both of which offer great branding potential for your logo.

Items such as reflectors are less immediately obvious but are a very traditional and practical giveaway. Over recent years the trend has been towards slap bands – a self-curling wristband which curves around the wrist when gently slapped against it – which are available in reflective colours. Reflective items are great for safety campaigns and schools and ideal as a giveaway due to their novelty and high retention value.

Safety is of paramount importance as the evenings draw in and promotional torches and emergency breakdown kits make the perfect winter giveaway. They are also highly practical and certain to be retained all year round.

Christmas is, of course, one of the major events of winter for many people and a great promotional opportunity. Think printed baubles, advent calendars and personalised Christmas cards. The season of goodwill also provides an excellent opportunity to say ‘Thank You’ to your employees and clients – why not reward them with a high quality pen, desk set, or clock? A tastefully chosen personalised gift will be appreciated by any recipient and will set a positive feeling for the future.

Although winter brings with it dark, mist filled days, this offers a great opportunity to promote your logo on essential winter wear. Whether on a uniform for employees or as a gift for a customer, your printed logo will gain daily exposure. From beanie hats and gloves, to fleeces, sweatshirts and waterproof jackets, the range of workwear and other clothing available for personalisation is vast. And so is the audience it will reach. An individual wearing an item of personalised clothing can potentially come into daily contact with huge amounts of people – think of the number of times you have seen someone wearing a fleece or a beanie hat with branded embroidery.

Whatever your business, winter needn’t put it into hibernation!

How to Overcome MLM Challenges – Multi Level Marketing Tips For Success

There are plenty of helpful tips available to help you overcome your MLM challenges. In my opinion most of the challenges we face in MLM are avoidable but only if you start off on the right path. When I am faced with a challenge in my primary opportunity its usually around developing new techniques for marketing, lack of customers, or lack of money. As business owners in the field of MLM we are faced with difficult challenges but they aren’t unlike those that any other business owner faces. We do face different challenges because of the nature of our business but if you plan for the unexpected and have a vision for the day-to-day operations of your company you’ll be able to thrive in your business.

Every day businesses are birthed around the world within a dynamic and formidable marketplace where only the toughest survive. If you are in the network marketing industry you know that our environment is particularly fickle and can be a tough training ground for the almost 25,000 people that join Multi-level marketing business everyday in the U.S. and the 95% that fail within their first year.

Most people join network marketing companies not recognizing the importance of having a vision for how their business will grow and function in its infancy. There is concept that many large corporations use to lead their work on a daily basis and I think that it can be particularly effective for network marketers. Its called Strategic Planning. Planning is not a new concept to business corporations but it might be to those that don’t know about its extreme effectiveness for providing a roadmap for any business for periods of 6-months, to 3 years, to 20 years.

By understanding the importance of this process and the questions that go into taking you through it, you can gain a better sense of preparedness for your company’s growth. As someone new to this industry you need as much structure in the beginning as possible to understand how to plan and set and meet your goals. By taking the first step in this process you will exhibit your commitment to your business and your leadership for your organization.

You have to believe in something yourself first, before you can get others to believe.– Ashraf Seddeck, Oracle Corporation.

What does your company do?

What product or service do you provide?

What is your mission statement?

What are your company’s values?

What is your plan for your first 30 days, 6 months, 1 year?

What are your weaknesses/strengths?

How will you market your business?

Who is your competition?

What might be challenges that prevent you from reaching your goal?

What is your plan to grow your business over the next 12 months?

What is your plan for recruiting for your business?

What resources do you have to build your business?

What is your budget for your business?

What does your organization look like and what types of people are your recruiting?

What actions are you taking on a daily basis to build your business?

Importance of Choosing a Branding Agency

It is very important to brand an agency. Mostly, the companies associated with manufacturing and distributing products and others need their help. There should take in a proper branding strategy in the first stages; otherwise, it will be very difficult to reach the mass customers. Several ways are there that can make a brand successful. Advertising through the social media, radio, print media, sponsorship, and television promotes a brand. The financial support is often raised from several events, sports and awards from anywhere in the world.

The Important Aspect of a Brand Marketing Agency

The company should have a separate and hard-working team that should look after the marketing aspect of the company. This will help to set up a proper brand. The company that needs to do branding can take the help of a brand marketing agency to get the desired results. This is because the agency is mostly an expert in the field and specializes in this kind of work.

The advantages of choosing a brand advertising agency

It is very much helpful to hire a branding agency. The primary advantage is that a branding agency has experience in the field and is thus aware of all the nooks and corners of the field. This will help the company to set up a brand value in the market and in turn, make it successful. The hiring of a marketing agency is a complex process and involves keen attention and knowledge to select a proper one. The reason behind this is that there are many businesses and it is important to secure a foothold for every business. There are also many brand marketing service providers. The owners have to select them carefully. Most of the branding companies try to create a slogan for the company so that it gets a unique identity. Most of these slogans or taglines define the company policy with an eye-catching logo design. Whatever it be the customers should find it relatable to the products of the company. The logo and slogan should also sync well with each other. This is the branding strategy that the branding agency has to give shape perfectly.

Guide to Hiring the right agency

While you are selecting a marketing firm then make sure to check the earlier works of the agency. You should check the works that are similar to his or her own business. This will enable them to analyze the work of the agency and they can decide whether to deal with the agency or not.

Increase Your Brand Visibility With Printed Carrier Bags

Printed Carrier Bags is now one of the most popular promotional items that are sought-after by a great number of business companies. They have proved to be one of the most economical and effective products which is quite capable of making your brand known and bringing in successful results of your marketing campaign. When selecting a promotional product, business companies need to make sure that this product increases brand visibility, as this is one of the most important marketing strategies to increase revenue. The product should also cater to the needs of your target audience, who will always prefer to have a utility product. Considering these key aspects of brand promotion, Printed Carrier Bagsis one of the leading promotional products in the country.

Business companies dealing with promotional products offer a wide range of carrier bags such as vest style carrier bags, duffle styled bags, paper bags, recycled bags, rope handled bags, conference bags, backpacks and so much more. These are also popular has it has the capability of carrying an easily imprinted company logo as there is ample space on both sides of this bag. They are long-lasting as well, thus making it possible to keep your product known in the market for a longer period of time.

Selecting a suitable product and placing an order for Printed Carrier Bagsis a simple procedure. There are a great number of online web stores who deal with promotional merchandise and some of them specifically work with carrier bags. They market a wide range, and you can browse for these products and select the most appropriate bag for your marketing campaign. Consider placing bulk orders as it offers you a greater discount.

Invariably the same online stores offer the facility of imprinting your selected product too. You have two options:

1) To do your own design for the imprint and upload it for printing

2) Provide the required information and let the online web store do the designing

Almost all of these stores are well experienced and possess the required expertise to design logos and brand names. You are also free to obtain their assistance in developing an attractive and clear logo, brand name and marketing message.

Gifting a printed carrier bag to your potential customers or existing clients makes them “walking ambassadors” and “advertising agents” of your product, each time they carry the bag with them. This creates good brand visibility and helps to keep your company’s name known in the consumer world.

Printed Carrier Bags are products of quality that are manufactured to suit the different groups of target audience. If you are planning for your next campaign which will require mass distribution of these bags, these web stores are able to supply you with the appropriate product. Similarly, if your target audience is of a higher executive grade, suitable products are available as well.

If you have decided to use printed carrier bags for your next marketing campaign, visit these online stores and take your time to study the available products, their specifications and prices and select the most suitable item which will be able to increase your company’s brand awareness and brand visibility.

Why You Need a Website

24 hours per day

Your website runs 24/7 and 365 days a year without any supervision. If you have the website, you can always be there for your customers. You can provide both prospective and regular customers the convenience of reviewing your products and services when your store or office is closed.

Online brochure

Companies spend millions creating brochures and distributing them. By having a website you can totally skip that. Your potential customers can find out about you and any of your products or services online. If you get most of your business through networking or your personal connections, then they will want to check out your website. So here the website plays an important role to know your customers about your business.

Business will gain credibility

More and more people are searching online for things they want, for solutions to their problems, to compare prices, or just to get some information about a store, restaurant, hotel or business before they purchase from them. If you don’t have a website, potential customers will go to your competitors who do or who has the website, especially if you are a home-based or small-scale business without a bricks-and-mortar address

Long term promotion of your business

Compared with the cost of traditional means of advertising, such as newspaper advertisements, radio commercials, promotional materials and networking events that often include the cost of a meal or trade tables, when you consider the probable market you can reach with a website, it is a very cost-effective way to promote your business long-term.

You can be kept your customers informed

A website is an effective way of introducing your customers to new services, letting them know about new products, announcing upcoming events and special promotions. You can also provide added value by posting tips, resources, and other information through a blog on your website. Unlike print ads, newspaper flyers and articles, which quickly become outdated, your website can provide current information and news.

You will get More Customers and wider audience

Websites are accessible from anywhere, anytime in the world provided there is an internet connection. More than 3 billion people use the internet every day, and some 80% of those have purchased something or contacted a company, online in the last 1 year. You can target a much wider audience if your business has a website and by not having a website, you will be missing out on a big piece of the pie.

Importance of Having Mobile Apps for Small Businesses

The world has gone Mobile. The number of smart phone users globally has grown exponentially over the past 5 years. The number of Android & iOS devices sold globally has crossed a billion mark each. Hence, it is no longer sufficient to have only a website for your business. Any business, small or large must have a mobile app. Let us look at some of the most important reasons why you should opt for a mobile app for your business:

1. Branding – A mobile application is the best way to create brand awareness for your business. You can use your logo, your business’s tag line or a message that you would like your customers to connect with your business to create a brand recall. Every time a customer who has downloaded your mobile apps sees your logo in the form of the mobile app icon on their screen, they will recall you.

2. Increased Reach – Because of the sheer penetration of mobile phones and other mobile devices like tablets and the improved Internet connectivity in most parts of the world, the number of people you can reach through a app has increased tremendously. It is easier for your existing as well as potential customers to find out the right information about your products or services through your mobile app.

3. Create Customer Database & Profile – It is easier to collect customer data in terms of phone number and email id through a mobile apps. You can also allow your app users to login via their social media accounts like Facebook or Google. This will give you access to other valuable data like their areas of interest, their lifestyle choice, their shopping preferences, etc. This data can then be used by your marketing team to send out the right communication.

4. Increased Engagement – By building the right features in your app you can utilize it as a powerful way to increase engagement with your existing and potential customers. You can include features like social sharing and a help desk (for sales and service queries) in the app to improve direct communication with your customers. This will in turn help your business to connect closely with your customers.

5. Push Notifications – This is one of the biggest advantages of having a mobile apps. You can ask your Mobile App Development Solution provider to integrate a push notification feature in your app which will help you with your on-the-go marketing. Through this feature, you can send bulk messages to all the app users or specific messages to a sub-set of your app users based on the message. You can also communicate about the latest offers or discounts you are offering to your customers regularly through push notifications. Best of all, it doesn’t cost you a penny to send out these messages, unlike SMS or Email marketing.

With the above advantages of having a for your business in mind, it is imperative to identify the right Mobile App Development Solutions provider for your business app. Solution Analysts has been helping small businesses globally with their Mobile App Development Services to create great which will add value to their businesses. To get a free quote for your Mobile Application or to know more about us, please visit our website today.

Landmark Judgement for Starbucks in Chinese IPR Case

The protection of intellectual property in china has long been high on the list of concerns for innovative foreign companies looking to do business there. What little legal framework existed around intellectual property rights (IPR) has been difficult and time-consuming to enforce. There are signs, however, that the situation may be improving for companies which use trademarks, logos and branding in the People’s Republic.

In a recent case, newly amended Chinese trademark legislation was put to the test when the American speciality coffee retailer Starbucks accused a local Shanghai company of copying their trading name and logo.

Starbucks opened its first Shanghai outlet on Huaihai Road on May 4, 2000, building on the success of its dozens of stores across Taiwan and the rest of mainland China. Shortly prior to this opening, a local company had registered its own business name – Xingbake Coffee Co. Ltd. – with the Shanghai authorities. By 2003, the Chinese firm had opened two outlets in Shanghai using the trade name ‘Xingbake’.

The legal dispute between Starbucks and their local competitor arose because ‘xing’ translates from Mandarin as ‘star’ and ‘ba-ke’ is an approximate phonetic rendition of ‘bucks’. Although Starbucks does not officially use this rough translation in China, the word ‘Xingbake’ has become synonymous with the US firm’s outlets amongst the public.

Starbucks considered that, by trading under a similar name and by the use of a very similar green and white logo, Shanghai Xingbake was competing unfairly. On this basis, Starbucks filed a law suit against Xingbake in Shanghai on December 23, 2003, alleging trademark infringement.

In reply to the accusation, Mao Yibo, General Manager of Xingbake, said that his company has registered its enterprise name with the Shanghai authorities in March 2000, before Starbucks was established in the region. By using the name ‘Xingbake’, he claimed that his company was simply using its legitimate title instead of a trademark.

Mao denied that the name of his company and its logo had been influenced by their Seattle-based rival. “We invented ‘Xingbake’ as our brand when we planned to start a café business in Shanghai and it is just a coincidence that our name is the same with Chinese version of Starbuck [sic]”, he said. “The logo was designed by our own staff. To be frank, I hadn’t heard of Starbucks at the time, so how could I imitate its brand or logo?”

Chen Naiwei, director of the Intellectual Property Research Centre of Shanghai’s Jiaotong University does not accept this, explaining that ‘Xingbake’ has been used as the sole translation of ‘Starbucks’ in Taiwan since 1998. This predates the registration of Xingbake’s enterprise name in Shanghai by two years.

Despite Mao Yibo’s claims and his further assertions that Xingbake’s serving style and target market differ substantially from those of Starbucks, Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court found in favour of the American giant on December 31, 2005 – two years after the law suit was filed.

Shanghai Xingbake was ordered to stop using its name, issue an apology in a local newspaper and pay 500,000 Yuan (US$62,000) in compensation to Starbucks.

The basis of the Court’s decision was the relatively newly amended Trademark Laws of the People’s Republic of China, which came into force on October 27, 2001. The amendments form part of a raft of revised legislation introduced to protect the owners of intellectual property in China. Under the new laws, the Court determined that the name ‘Starbucks’, written in Chinese or English, was sufficiently well known to be deemed a famous trademark and was, therefore, entitled to protection.

This ruling is the first of its kind under the new legislation and may be an indication that China is responding to pressure from the European Union and the United States to crack down on IPR infringements and counterfeiting. China is believed to be the source of around 70% of the world’s pirated goods at a cost of around US$250bn each year to US companies alone.

In a statement released on January 18, Jiang Zian, the attorney for Shanghai Xingbake confirmed that the company had already begun an appeal against the judgement in the Shanghai Higher People’s Court. Jiang explained that Xingbake does not use the English translation ‘Starbucks’ and had no plans to counter claim against their competitor for using the same Chinese name. “The problem is they use Xingbake as the brand name in Chinese and we use it as our company name. We just want to keep our company name and run our own business”, Jiang said. A spokesperson for Starbucks later confirmed that it would be defending itself against the appeal.

Starbucks now has 156 outlets in mainland China and has a presence close to some of the country’s most iconic locations, including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. At up to US$6 per cup, the company’s coffee costs more than the average Chinese worker makes in a day. Despite this, Starbucks coffee is increasingly popular with China’s emerging urban middle class.

Artist Branding in the Music Business

Music branding has become more and more popular as a topic amongst not only the hierarchy of the music industry but the average artist and independent companies. Artists are slowly beginning to realise the power of their own name and how they can generate not only another revenue stream, but an even more significant financial return that dwarfs the return from their music career.

One of the most significant markers was laid down not in the music industry but in sports. When Michael Jordan the basketball legend achieved notoriety when he signed an extremely lucrative deal with Nike to produce the Air Jordan range, the table was set and has continued in sports with many sportsmen including David Beckham and Tiger Woods.

The deal with Michael Jordan was not the first time various industries recognised the power of performers be it sportsmen, actors or musicians. Run DMC the famous Hip Hop legends after recording and releasing the hit “My Adidas” was approached by the sport wear giants when sales of the brand increased due to the songs popularity.

Some would argue even more significant than these cases are the cases of minor celebrities such as the late Jade Goody (Channel 4’s Big Brother) have shown you need not have achieved a significant success in any field to find success with selling your brand and being rewarded financially. Jade achieved significant financial rewards with her perfume line which grossed her a seven figure sum.

So what is a brand?

Whenever I speak to musicians and mention branding they always start to speak about logos and image, which has a place in branding but it is not what branding actually is. Let’s clear up the logo issue first. A logo is the visual identification of a brand.

Again, so what is a brand?

A quote from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos states “a brand is what people say about you when you leave the room”. I think many would agree that Amazon is a well known and successful brand. But how do you build a successful brand? For me the key ingredient of a brand is trust! Now if you notice trust does not mean you have to behave well and do everything by the book, as our post image we chose the Rolling stone logo which has become a brand that represents good rock and roll music, but was formerly identified with misbehaviour and rebellion.

Others in branding state that a brand is a promise of an experience as most women would get from a Herbal Essence ad is the promise of a sensual experience when washing their hair. One of the most successful examples of this promise is the Heinz food brand. When most shoppers who are not skint go to their local superstore if they are buying beans a large percentage for a long period of time would pick up the Heinz branded tin because it was branded as a higher quality product and it was so effectively marketed people did not mind paying more for the experience. That is what a well marketed brand will allow you to do.

What is your brand?

The music business is the king of the personal brand because if you did not have a good personal brand your success would be short lived. When developing your brand you need to know your brand values, what do you stand for? What do you want people to say about you? What are you promising? Are you guaranteeing a good time?Are you the rebel? Do you intend to enlighten the world? Or are you the sex kitten guaranteed to titilate and arouse? Work out your brand values and you will be well on your way to developing your brand.

Trust is never instant and neither is a brand it needs to be built over time and you need to live up to your brand values, your promise, if you do not, you will not have a strong brand therefore will not be deemed trustworthy or dependable to deliver the experience you say.

There is more to developing your brand but this is a brief overview and an invitation to you who are interested to research and start to develop that brand because if developed effectively will expand beyond your music to different areas as our earlier examples have shown.

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