The lineup of Tonino Lamborghini promotional products made it’s way into the North American market many years ago, only to finally fall into the hands of us at TheBestPromoProducts.com as of May 20th, 2007.

“We don’t want to be in mass market,” Tonino Lamborghini, son of Ferruccio Lamborghini, who created the legendary sports car, said in an exclusive interview with Promotional Products Association Blog editor Lisa Horn during The PPAI Expo. “With this kind of distribution, we can still obtain large quantities without being found in a department store setting. This keeps the brand sophisticated and exclusive.”

Even after Lamborghinis sale of the luxury car lineup many years ago. He still designs more than 90 percent of the vehicle product line and 100% of the Promotional Items for the company.

TheBestPromoProducts.com now has distribution rights for Canada and the USA. We will be distributing the product line through our website and our affiliate networks only; to keep the product line exclusive and valuable. (eg: TheBestPromoProducts.com - Affiliate Network)

Check us out!

 

 Pre-Launch Pod Cast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Almost every day I have one or two people ask me “what is the website going to launch?”

That’s a tricky question considering I have already set and passed 4 anticipated launch dates. The problem isn’t so much with the design or the products or just picking the right date. The matter is that our goal is a resource that will position us in such a way that we will dominate the online promotional products industry.

Promotional products online is a very competitive market. This is why we have sourced a vast number of elite professionals in their industry to help with design, development, marketing, conversion and all sorts of consulting on how we can achieve our goals.

Over the past few months we have been working on TheBestPromoProducts.com website not only to sell promotional products, but to also create affiliate and franchise opportunities for those people who are interested in online marketing and making money using the most powerful marketing tool that is… the Internet.

There are more than a million ways to make money online. And I understand that that there is even competition within the affiliate market. It’s tough to find good affiliates and when you do, it’s even tougher to keep them if your products and / or affiliate benefits don’t fit the bill.

Affiliates want to earn thousands… not hundreds… They all want the newest and coolest tools available promote their money making opportunity to the visitors of their websites, or even the people they promote to OFF LINE.

What I’m about to go thru with you is a quick run thru of some the expectations you may be able to hold us up to when we do launch!

1. The best promotional products found anywhere on the internet.
Lets face it… you can find some website out there that claim they have 30 thousand products available to their customers. But let’s face it. I have been involved in this industry for many years and have been growing the whole time. To stock 30 thousand products in inventory is pointless. Most people that buy promotional products know their market and know what they will and won’t like. We stock the best of those items, and by STOCK, I mean we keep all our own products IN INVENTORY. If it is not readily available for us to laser or imprint and ship out. It wont be on our website.

2. The most functional user friendly website
We have invested tens of thousands of dollars into the development of thebestpromoproducts.com website. Not only for the convenience of our customers, but also to simplify our back end ordering system to expedite customers orders. Communication is very important and we work very hard to make sure that there are no errors in any order that comes thru our website.

3. Business Opportunity
Our website is not just about customers. It’s about business… and marketing and promotions. And even learning how to achieve an image. Because our goal is to educate people that “Image is everything!” It is huge! Image is the single most important part of doing any business anywhere. If your name is mud. That means your image is dirt! We have facilitated a network of opportunity for people interested in being involved in this industry.

a. Affiliate Opportunities

b. Franchise Opportunities

c. Networking Opportunities

d. Advertising Opportunities

e. Learning Opportunities

In future Pod Casts, I will go thru in more detail what specific resources will be available to the visitors of thebestpromoproducts.com

But for now… let me leave you with this one thought… If you don’t think that there is a market for promotional products on the Internet. Think again… Financial institutions are the single largest purchasers in the $15 billion promotional products marketplace… that’s BILLION with a “B”, with health care institutions following a close second.

According to an independent research study for the Promotional Products Association International, the promotional product market is on the rise. BIG TIME! With growth expected to be well over 300% within the next 5 years.

I appreciate you taking the time to listen. I look forward to doing business with you, and hope to meet you soon!

For those of use who have spend a considerable amount of time at Trade Shows either as a guest or presenter know that usually hey are crammed events with a sea of booths. So what can be done to stand out from the crowd?

I have put together a short list of suggestions that have proven to work well for me. Weather you’re new to the Trade Shows bandwagon or a veteran, we could all use a little grease on the wheels.

•  Be a Trade Show Exhibitor, NOT an Attendee.
• Create a relevant atmosphere around your booth, using displays that depict what you do and expresses the benefits to the patrons of the event.
• Be exciting! Plan out some interaction ideas with your visitors. The more they become involved in your booth, the more likely they are to remember you. You have less than 30 seconds to catch the attention of your visitor. How are you going to do it?
• Have a prize Fish Bowl. This is a great way collect leads. Make sure you follow up on your leads promptly and professionally
• Have some gifts or promotional giveaways to draw from the bowl and award a new winner each hour as incentive for prospects to share their business card. 

Believe it or not… the point of a Trade Show is to catch the attention of a prospect and get to know them. This is how your sale is made. So don’t be afraid to chat it up with people and make a scene.

All successful businesses have one consistent trait, they all keep up with current industry and social trends. This is the idea of predicting where your market is headed and what people, socially, are interested in and how your company can parallel these trends. These are things that all companies need to pay attention to and need to be aware of to run a successful business. One of these current issues is going green. This rising trend, spurred by the idea of global warming and environmental awareness, is taking many markets by storm. People want to know what companies are doing to help the environment. They want to know if the products they’re buying are environmentally friendly and if the company’s “green ethics” match their own.

This has become a big enough issue and concern for many buying customers that it’s important for a company to question what they’re doing to to go green. They need to ask themselves, “What have we done so we can show people this is something we’re concerned with and being proactive about?” One way a company can express this concern is through promo items. If your company is truly concerned with environmental issues, what is a better way to show this than through “green” promotional merchandise? A clever promo item made through recycled material is a great way to reach that buying public; it’s an easy way to reach out to markets overtaken by these trends.  If you’re concerned with your bottom-line, then these are things you need to be on the look-out for.

As a supplier, you want your clients to trust your product. When they order from you they expect an on time, creative, satisfying product. Obviously this sort of relationship can be built with clients with continual client satisfaction, but how do you obtain this sort of relationship quickly with new clients? One way you can gain this trust, as a supplier, is to provide new customers with a preview of the kind of quality and creativity you’re all about. And what’s the secret? Promo Products…

Promo products are a great way to give potential clients a preview or a small example of the kind of quality and creative your company’s all about. I know some of you are thinking, we’re talking about pens, key chains, golf tees, etc. But can’t you tell a lot about a company based on the quality and creativity of these products? I mean, if a company’s will to put the time and effort into designing, creating, and executing a great promo product, or at least take the time to acquire a great promo item; doesn’t this show an attention to detail and commitment that you’re looking for in a supplier? Of course it does, this is exactly what you look for in a supplier.

When you need to get product to a customer, you need to rely on a great supplier.  You need people who are committed to every detail and take pride in all aspects of their craft.  Great promotional items can be a great indication of these traits!

In several recent posts we’ve talked about how the sales process can be very difficult. We discussed how competitive industry markets are these days and how important it is to get a leg up on your competition through any means. To get in edge in the business world you need to go above and beyond, you need to offer your client something, outside of a great product, that your competitors don’t. In the case, we’re talking about promo products. Promo products are a great way to attract your client or customer to your business and ultimately push them over th edge into buying your product.

A key chain, designer pen, anything that can appeal to the customer and also get your brand image out to the public is a good way to win over your customer/client. Such a small gift is still a gift in the consumer’s eyes. It’s seen as a kind gesture and a way of thanking them on the side for doing business with them. This small gift and gesture can often times be enough to get them to buy into the bigger product you can offer. Call it a bribe, call it a gift, gestures like these can mean the difference between a healthy bottom-line and struggling sales numbers.

In business, is image really everything? Does it need to be stronger and more positive compared to your competitors? I guess I can only answer this in one way….ABSOLUTELY. When people say that in business image is everything, they’re saying this for a reason. Let’s take a look…

Let’s take for example Company A, who has a history of bad business ethics, often is receiving bad publicity in the news, and basically carries a negative vibe with buyers. Now take Company B, who has a proven history of ethical business, strong customer satisfaction, and great publicity. As a buyer/client/customer who’s looking to buy a product, in small or large scale, what company will you immediately be most inclined to do business with? Obviously Company B. If you don’t know much about a product created by Company A, what kind of assumptions will you have and will you be able to trust this product without knowing a lot about it? Whereas, if you are in the dark about a product from Company B, won’t you have a margin of trust because of the company’s background? ABSOLUTELY!

The image your company carries is everything. It allows your customer to be comfortable with your track record, have a positive feeling in the sales process, and also feel confident in going into business with your company. Having a strong company image and give your business an advantage over your competitors before you even offer your product.  If you feel like your company already has a great image, then promotional items are a great way to get your positive image to more of the public. Creating a positive image can mean everything and getting that positive image out there, can be just as important!

Loyalty in business does not necessarily have to be one sided. Brand-Loyalty is a phrase that is often thrown around and is a focus of many marketing plans. How does a business create brand loyalty? How do they get consumers to keep buying their products, even if they aren’t the cheapest, flashiest, or most convenient? This, my friends, is the loyalty that you hear about in business. What you seemingly never hear about, however, is company to customer loyalty.

Company to customer loyalty is just as it sounds, it’s the business showing the same amount of dedication to their customer base as the customer has hopefully shown to the business. An example of this type of loyalty could be a company deciding not to take the opportunity to raise their bottom-line a little bit by hosing a long time client…. or signing with a different client just to save a small margin. I mean, could you imagine doing business with a company that is willing to show this kind of customer loyalty?!

Simply put, for a business to show this kind of dedication and loyalty to their customers, it means that they have an immense amount of pride in their craft, their product, and the way they handle their business. They also respect their customers and want to build long term business relationships, not just one time sells. These are the type of people you want to do business with and be loyal to!

A few days ago, I pointed out that promotional products greater name recognition.  Now I want to talk about how that’s beneficial beyond the obvious. Here are a few reasons: 

1)     They’re tangible Most promotional products are products you can hold, you can touch, you can use.  They aren’t tucked away in a magazine or available in sight and sound for a quick 30 second shot on TV. 

2)     They’re useful (give quick examples)Oh, yes.  They’re not pet rocks or couch potatoes.  They provide a purpose, solve a problem, or make you feel good.  That makes them INHERENTLY valuable.  A lot less likely to be tossed in the bottom of the drawer – or in the trash.  Since they are useful and valuable, they’re more likely to stick around for a while. 

3)     They’re personal The reason you get a promotional item is because they want you to HAVE it.  You take it because you want to USE it.  Once you have it and start using it, it becomes…yours.  It’s not long a promotional item or a giveaway, its your customers personal property.  One that THEY use.  One that has YOUR name on it. 

4)     They’re long lasting Most corporate gifts are something that the recipient can use for a long time.  Be it a pen (until the ink runs dry), a calendar (for 12 or 16 months), or a golf umbrella at a tournament (a lifetime). 

5)     They’re portable If they’re tangible, they’re often portable.  That golf umbrella or golf towel can be seen on the golf course.  The pens goes with you everywhere.  In your pocket, on your desk, in you hand.  If you lose it, someone else is being advertised to.  The custom made sunglasses, the shirt or hat with the logo, the picnic set.   

6)     They’re memorable A story.  I grew up in a small village in Rhode Island called
Oak Lawn.  This was the late 1960’s. We had three gas stations nearby, one of which was a Shell station.  Back in the summer of 1969, I was in the second year of following my first love.  The
Boston Red Sox.  Now the local Shell station was giving away pictures of several players, along with a mug.  Every time we got in the car I wanted us to get gas.  I convinced both parents to exclusively go to that station to get gas – and the latest autographed picture.    

By the time I was old enough to drive – about eight years later, I, for some reason, preferred that Shell.  Always did.  And now I can remember why. 

Here it is, 38 years later.  I  still got those autograph pictures.  Pictures of relatively obscure players long retired.  And when my son asks me for a glass of milk before he goes to bed, he gets it in that glass mug that my mom brought home so long ago. 

Message:  promotional products can build AFFINITY.

Let’s face it, no matter how good, how amazing, or even how BRILLIANT your company’s product is, no one will buy it if they don’t know it’s out there. It seems as though creating a dynamite product is only half the battle these days. You need to know how to inform your buying audience that this product is available and, more importantly that they can’t live without it. I know this sounds simple enough, but it’s a step that many businesses don’t take seriously.

As a company you need to separate yourselves from your competitors, stand out from the back and find ways to uniquely advertise your product to put it firmly into the minds of the audience. This is where promotional items can really help. Key chains, pens, any logo merchandise can help; while it may not seem that these items are advertising your product necessarily, they’re advertising your company and your IMAGE!

You know, and I know, in any industry, Image, is Everything.