Category: Blog

How to Keep Your Franchise on Brand  Maintaining brand consistency is one of the most important, if not most difficult, responsibilities of any franchise. Without it, you risk creating customer confusion that weakens brand recognition.When a brand is consistent, across its multiple franchisees, it becomes easily recognizable by both new and returning customers. And if customers have already associated a positive emotion with that brand, they will come to expect that same experience across all store locations (and marketing touch points). To put it simply, consistency helps build trust with customers and boost their loyalty.In contrast, when a brand struggles with consistency, it spoils the relationships you've worked so hard to build with customers, as well as undermines your brand's integrity.According to Forbes, "...consistency…is the lifeblood of your franchise network –…

5 Conference Swag Items You Need Whether you're hosting an upcoming conference, or you're sponsoring one, it goes without saying that you'll want to leave a lasting impression with attendees. Having a booth or table stocked with free giveaways and conference swag can certainly do the trick! No matter the event (in-person or virtual), when it comes to free merch, people can't pass it up. Just remember that you won't be the only company offering up "freebies." Therefore, you'll want to ensure your swag impresses the masses vs. getting thrown in a pile with the rest. So, the question is this: what's the best conference swag? Glad you asked! Before we share a few conference swag ideas, consider these 3 essential characteristics that separate good merch from blah merch. Quality…

Three Reasons why Swag is Not a Four-Letter Word I’m always fascinated to hear about the “swag bags” given out to attendees of Hollywood award shows – the mix of high-end items and brands is always fascinating (and typically aspirational). Most of us in real-world corporate America don’t have the luxury of a big budget or connections with major brands and influencers to pull something like this off. Many of us are satisfied if we can get some pens, stress balls, and water bottles to give out at our next event. ‍According to Merriam-Webster, the term “swag” or “schwag” came about in the 1960s to describe the free stuff companies would give out at events as a promotional stunt. Digging deeper (like 17th-century deep), swag was also a reference to…

Where's My Stuff?Supply Chain Challenges & Promotional Products Another substitution? How can the shipment be delayed again? Why are these the only options? If you’ve recently uttered these questions in frustration, we completely understand. The past eighteen months have created the perfect storm of circumstances resulting in significant supply chain challenges across all industries. The record blockage of cargo ships in California is just another example of the ripple effect of these issues. Having some context to the underlying causes of product shortages and delays can help all of us better understand the impacts they have on product pricing and availability at a high level. After reading through the four primary challenges, we’ll focus on how we can address them together. Importing strugglesImporting challenges include the dramatic 300% year-over-year increase in…

Infographic The Why, How, and What of your online company store or “brand kitchen.” Your online company store is like the kitchen, or heart, of your home. Your employees, partners, and even your customers will visit expecting well-stocked shelves and the no-fuss ability to get a good branded meal easily. And, since promotional products are the most highly regarded form of advertising, it's essential to follow a proven recipe.Learn more about remodeling (or building) your brand "kitchen" with our infographic.READ MORE >>

Your Guide to Launching an Online Company Store in 5 easy steps Your business and your brand should be in lockstep when it comes to your marketing efforts, but all too often organizations struggle to maintain control over how their brand is presented outside (and sometimes even within) their organization. Requests for logos are bouncing around in email because individual teams are managing their own merchandise orders, and the marketing department is bombarded with questions about when the sales team can expect their branded mugs for their next event.  It’s time to put an end to the disparate madness that comes with managing multiple requests for corporate-branded merchandise and centralize the process through an online company store for your employees and partners.  Setting up an eStore to manage your promotional…

The Missing Piece of your Reward and Incentive Program – an online company store Let’s face it – we’re all motivated by different factors. Some of us find joy and value in doing something simply for the sake of learning and take great pride in our accomplishments (yes, we see you Duolingo aficionados!) Others of us feel most accomplished when we’ve reached a tangible goal like earning a promotion at work or finally dethroning another family member from their Scrabble-winning streak. These intrinsic (personally rewarding) and extrinsic (externally rewarding) motivators are a very real part of human nature, and different situations call for different types of motivation. In an era where we’re experiencing an ever-increasing remote workforce, it can be particularly challenging to find ways to keep your employees engaged…

Why Knowing Your Employee “Buyers” is Essential for company eStore success Creating an online company store for your employees creates an opportunity to expand your brand’s reach, build loyalty, foster engagement, and ensure greater consistency in how your brand is communicated to the broader world. From a budget perspective, it’s also a cost-wise decision since you’ll be streamlining corporate purchases through a centralized promotional products distributor. Setting up an online company store is also a lot easier than you might think, especially when you find the right partner for the job – one who can assist you with your strategic planning to make sure that the promotional product offerings you have in your online store meet the interests and demands of your market. ‍ Where to start when launching your…

Who needs a company store? Confessions of a former marketing client A few years back, I was a newly hired brand manager at a transportation company. On my list of initial projects was “launch a company store.” In talking to my director, I discovered that there had previously been a company store, but it had sort of “fizzled.” And by the way, that old inventory of branded shirts, mugs, pens, and other mysterious boxes in the basement was mine to deal with – and quickly as we were planning a move within six months.‍I must admit, I felt a bit overwhelmed. After all, I had other projects that seemed more important and relevant to managing our brand, such as launching a new advertising campaign and refreshing the branding on our…