The Importance of Balance

Hello!

How is your week going?  This week we’re talking about work/life balance.  Recently, Richard Branson added paternity leave for his employees (for London and Geneva offices only, sadly).  This is revolutionary because the US is one of the few countries that does not provide paid maternity leave, never mind, paternity leave. ¹  Whether or not you have a family, the main message here is the balance between your personal and professional life. 

There are many significant reasons to have balance, and below are five that we believe are great.

·      Flexibility lowers worker turnover and replacement costs. ⁵

·      Paid leave and flexibility boosts profits and cuts costs. ⁵

·      Flexibility alleviates the challenges of balancing personal and professional life. ⁵

·      More talent will join companies with a flex policy. ⁵

·      Working remotely has been found to reduce stress and increase job satisfaction. ⁴

Were those points enough to sell you?  Wouldn’t you find your job more enjoyable and help your company grow simply by having balance? 

Certainly!  And here are five ways to do just that.

·      Work from home as often as you can.  This will not only help relieve the stress of commuting but will also help to make you more productive. ⁴

·      Be present in the moment.  This focus will help you separate your work and personal life, in order to be your best.

·      Wear suitable attire.  Don’t wear what you wear at home to work and vice versa.  Your clothing is a stimulant that your body responds to.  Why not separate the two completely for the perfect balance?

·      Take time for family.  It’s inevitable that you may miss a family event because of work.  So why not use those vacation days that have been building up to spend time with your family?

·      Force yourself to find balance.  Americans are notorious for working nights and weekends.  No matter how hard you work, you can’t turn back time. ³

As always, thank you for reading and feel free to ask any questions.

 

1.  Kim, Susanna. (May 06, 2015).  US is Only Industrialized Nation Without Paid Maternity Leave.  ABCnews.com.  Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-industrialized-nation-paid-maternity-leave/story?id=30852419

2.  Bishop, Katrina. (Jun 11, 2015).  Richard Branson Offers Dads Paternity Leave – For a Year.  CNBC.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102750784

3.  Weissman, Jordan. (Sep 11, 2014).  Americans, Ever Hateful of Leisure, Are More Likely to Work Nights and Weekends.  slate.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/09/11/u_s_work_life_balance_americans_are_more_likely_to_work_nights_and_weekends.html

4.  Gregoire, Carolyn. (Jan 27, 2015).  Working From Home is Good for You and Your Boss .  huffingtonpost.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/work-from-home-health_n_6546838.html

5.  The Council of Economic Advisors. (Jun, 2014).  Nine Facts About American Families and Work.  whitehouse.gov.  Retrieved from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/nine_facts_about_family_and_work_real_final.pdf

Many Businesses are Neglecting This Important Sales Aspect

Hello again,

So you’ve finally made the sale.  What do you do now?  You may think it’s time to move on to the next new customer, but actually now is the best time to focus on retention.  Check out the below reasons on why:

1.     You now have an established relationship, which can simplify future orders.

2.     80% of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers. ¹

3.     Your existing customers will become advocates for your business.

Now that you know a few good reasons, what do you do?  

Here are steps to take to increase your customer retention:

·      Hit while the iron is hot.  Now that you’ve made a sale, it doesn’t mean the urge to buy has cooled.  Now is the best time to set up a personalized channel for this customer to buy from you again and again.  Show your customer you’re grateful for their business and provide a reminder of why they chose to place this order with you in the first place.

·      Ask for honest feedback.  By having them be candid about their experience, you let them know that you’re willing to go the extra mile for them and correct any initial bumps that may have made the relationship less than stellar.

·      Add them to your calendar.  This is not to say excessively e-mailing your customers with anything and everything.  What it means is that by having set dates on your calendar to periodically touch base with your customers they will know you’re keeping them in mind, which can be appreciated.   What do they normally prefer e-mails about?  Discounts!  Percentages off and free shipping are the two most popular. ²

We hope our blog was helpful this week.  Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

1.  Jao, Jerry. (Nov 19, 2014).  Why Customer Retention is King: The Evolution of Retention Marketing.  Forbes.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerryjao/2014/11/19/why-customer-retention-is-king-the-evolution-of-retention-marketing-part-1/

2.  Ecommerce Marketing Survey 2014.  (Sep 09, 2014).  Retrieved from: http://www.retentionscience.com/ecommerce-marketing-survey-2014/#sthash.pLqzhQ7Q.dpuf

3.  20 Customer Retention Strategies.  (Dec 23, 2008).  Retrieved from: http://marketingwizdom.com/strategies/retention-strategies

Online Marketing - 3 Simple Tips to Enhance Your Presence

Hello hello!

If you’re reading this blog, you probably either work for or own a business and you’re interested in marketing.  There seems to be two worlds of marketing now, electronic and non-electronic.  As promotional marketing experts, we specialize in physical marketing materials and we are promoting ourselves online.  If you’re a small business looking for the best ROI (return on investment) for your time and effort, here are a few tips that we’ve been doing to increase our own online presence.

Create a Social Media Presence

Gone are the days when people would find you in a phone book or a newspaper.  You need to advertise yourself, but how are you going to compete with all the companies that are online already?  How will you make yourself different from the pop-ups, pop-unders, and basically being popcorn ads that nobody reads?  The answer to that is social media.  But there’s so many… which one do you choose?

Choosing the Right Social Media for You 

Depending on whether you’re business to consumer or business to business, there are different focuses that you should take.

Business to business companies will see a better ROI by promoting themselves on Linkedin.  According to a survey done by business insider, professionals prefer to interact over Linkedin than any other social media.  ¹  So if you’re short on time and want to get the most bang for your buck on social media, you should be spending at least an hour a week on Linkedin.

For the business to consumer owner, your best friend is going to be Pinterest or Instagram.  You may gain exposure on Facebook, but a current study performed by shopify  shows that spending is higher on Pinterest and Instagram than on Facebook.  In fact, that same survey shows that 93% of users on Pinterest plan to make a purchase.  ²  Include that with the soon to come “buy now” option for Pinterest, purchasing will be even more irresistible.  The rule is simple: pictures versus posts will get you the most on return for business to consumers.

To Blog or Not To Blog

Blogging may seem easy, but you have to offer real value.  For those that create good content, you can be looking at 67% more leads than those that do not blog.  ⁴  The best part about blogging is that it only costs you time, you don’t pay per click, and your efforts will continue to garner attention even when you’re not working on it right at that moment.

We hope that you enjoyed this week’s blog.  Please feel free to ask questions or comment.  Have a great week!

1.  Smith, Cooper. (Oct 30, 2013).  B2B Marketing on Linkedin.  Businessinsider.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/b2b-marketing-on-linkedin-2013-10

2.  Truong, Alicia. (Jun 02, 2015).  Pinterst Has a Better Chance Building a Commerce Business than Facebook and Twitter Do.  QZ.com.  Retrieved from: http://qz.com/418106/pinterest-has-a-better-chance-building-a-big-commerce-business-than-facebook-and-twitter-do/

3.  Winter, Dayna.  (May 28, 2015).  How Pinterest Drives Online Commerce Infographic.  Shopify.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.shopify.com/blog/27044164-how-pinterest-drives-online-commerce-infographic

4.  Allen, Olivia.  (Mar 11, 2015).  6 Stats You Should Know About Business Blogging in 2015.  Hubspot.com.  Retrieved from: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/business-blogging-in-2015

Rejection - How to Handle It and Empower Yourself

Hello again!

How is your week going?  Today we are going to discuss how to handle rejection like a pro and turn those rejections into opportunities.  Whether you are interviewing for a job or in a sales oriented position rejection is simply something that will happen and the best way to handle it is to control how you feel about it.  Let’s explore some facts.

Fact 1

Did you know that your brain handles rejection in a way that is very similar to physical pain? ²  In fact, it is so similar that you can actually ease that horrible feeling you get with a pain killer.  Isn’t that a funny fact?  Doesn’t that put a new perspective on why you feel lousy after being rejected?

Fact 2

Rejection can cause anger, aggression, and even temporarily lower your IQ.  What does this mean?  If being rejected suddenly has you seeing red, don’t act on it.  Instead, realize that it is just a moment in time and step away from the situation.  You would literally be reacting negatively by acting on those feelings.

Fact 3

Rejection isn’t personal, it’s usually just matter of timing.  A great lesson is from Peter Fletcher’s blog.  His example was a real estate consultant that was not chosen for the original job.  When his competitor failed to complete the required task, he was immediately next in line and completed what his competitor could not.  Leaving a rejection with a good impression and not counting it as a closed door always leaves it as a possibility.

To summarize, rejection isn’t rational and may cause you to be pained and angry.  Don’t let that control you.  Leave with dignity and grace and move on to the next possibility – you never know what is waiting in the future.  The person that rejected you but holding onto your business card may very well be your next best client.

1.  Michaels, Sharon. (Sep 8, 2014).  How Do You Handle Rejection.  Forbes.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2014/09/08/how-do-you-handle-rejection/

2.  Winch, Guy. (Jul 03, 2013).  10 Surprising Facts About Rejection.  Psychologytoday.com.  Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201307/10-surprising-facts-about-rejection

3.  Fletcher, Peter.  (Feb 08, 2014).  7 Ways to Handle Rejection Like a Pro.  Peterfletcher.com.au.  Retried from: http://peterfletcher.com.au/2014/02/08/7-ways-to-handle-rejection-like-a-pro/

Marketing Blitz Are Out - Are You Personalizing Enough?

Hello person,

Here’s some stuff.  Buy it.  Done?

Now think about that.  How did that make you feel?  If you’re like most people, you certainly aren’t in the mood to buy something.  This brings up our topic for this week: personalized marketing.  This will not only help establish your relationship with your target demographic, but more than likely will help you increase your sales by an average of 19%. ¹

With the overwhelming amount of ads that are hitting us on a daily basis, people want to know that they are the one you’re speaking to.  Marketing can no longer be sustained by throwing it at a large group and hoping you hit the right person.  Even if that person is there, they want to feel like you are talking to them on a personal level and you have customized your marketing for them.

Here are some statistics:

·      Personalized emails improve clickthrough rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.²

·      Leads who are nurtured with targeted content produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities.²

·      A high-impact recommendation from a trusted friend conveying a relevant message is up to 50 times more likely to trigger a purchase than a low-impact recommendation. ²

What can you do to improve your marketing?

Homework

Find out more things about your customer.  If you’re talking to them on a website such as Linkedin, read their profile.  What can you pick up from that?  Can you customize your marketing to better appeal to them?  Establishing rapport early is an easy step to developing a strong relationship.

Research

Research statistics and find out what data already exists about your market.  There could be research readily available at the click of a button.   The information may help you curate your messages to better suit your customers.

Real personalization

Remember that project your client was talking to you about a couple weeks ago?  Are they still working on that?  How about sending them a great recommendation?

We hope these tips and information helped.  We also highly recommend checking out the article from hubspot.  Have a great week!

1.  Lucas, Chris. (Jan 15, 2015).  Why Personalized Marketing Will Dominate in 2015.  Topdogsocialmedia.com.  Retrieved from: http://topdogsocialmedia.com/personalized-marketing-will-dominate-2015/

2.  Anderson, Meghan Keaney. (Sep 12, 2013).  Stop Being Rude: 22 Data-Backed Reasons to Personalize Your Marketing.  Hubspot.com.  Retrieved from: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/data-personalize-marketing-li

How You Can Meet Those "Minimums" and More.

Hi again,

Thank you for staying tuned in.  Another week, another great topic to discuss and today we‘re talking minimums.  Did you know that minimums are not as cut and dry as you would assume?  There are ways to mix and match and additional ways to save.

Here are some great tips on how to get more bang out of your buck on those minimums.

Screen Sharing

For your apparel orders, you can use screens across products – say on a t-shirt and hoodie.  This will lower your initial costs and can even be used towards a future order.  How is that for mileage?

Same Product Type Mixing 

You want apparel for both genders, yet you don’t need as many as, let’s say, a dozen for each – no worries! Simply combine the quantities together and as long as all pieces are decorated the same, the minimum requirement is satisfied.

Here’s another example:  Let’s say you want highlighters in all colors.  No problem – simply combine various colors to meet the quantity requirements.  Again, as long as they’re all being decorated with the same artwork, you’re meeting the quantity requirements.

Less-Than-Minimum

Some products will allow a less-than-minimum. Let’s say the minimum quantity on tote bags is 100 pieces.  Some manufacturers may allow you to purchase as few as 50 (½ of the minimum quantity requirement), at the 100-piece price, plus a less-than-minimum fee, along with the standard set up charge.  This will not always be the cheapest route, but will allow you to purchase the lower quantity to fit your needs.

Blank Goods

Many products can be purchased in as few as 1 or 2 pieces, without decoration.

Thanks for reading again.  Let us know if you have any questions on today's topics or want to suggest a blog topic.

Are You Utilizing Your Marketing Partner Fully? Find Out!

Hello again,

This week our blog is going to discuss using resources you may not know exist.  We recently reconnected with a client to see if there was anything that needed to be ordered and we were told that there weren’t any tradeshows or promotional events planned at the moment.  This brings up the point that we are not exclusive to just event marketing.  

Did you know that your promotional marketing supplier can also provide on-boarding kits, employee recognition awards, and many other useful items that can be used year round?

A few orders that we’ve had include:

Human resources departments order prepackaged kit that includes mission statements and the employee handbooks along with pens, lanyards, a tumbler, and a USB.  Perfect for year round use and great to have in stock for those growing companies.

Recognition awards are great for lower minimums because you can order the same item personalized to each individual recipient. 

Nothing says team spirit like personalized company apparel.  T-shirts, polos, jackets – lower quantity minimums are not a problem and of course your creative partner would be able to find good deals for you. 

We know that in this industry minimums can be a source of concern, so definitely reach out to your creative partner to see what is available to fit your project needs.

Thanks for reading!