An Emerging Target Market: The Pet Industry!

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Promotional Products, ON: Friday, September 11th, 2015
roxie-halloween

My Dog Roxie when she was a puppy.

Pets! So many of us have them and so many of us love them. That’s why the Pet Industry is an emerging target market. An estimated $60 billion will be spent on pets alone in the US this year according to the American Pet Products Association. The most popular household pets are cats and dogs, of course, but freshwater fish are in third place.

Ideas on How To Market to Pet Owners

Another way to get social! Are you looking for a new way to connect to your clients and increase your ratings on social media? Encourage pet owners to share photos of their adorable animals to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This is a fun way to engage in a new conversation.

Pet Promotions and Giveaways. Pet owners love their pets like they are part of the family. So, why not give them something they will appreciate. There are several custom pet promotions that you can use, imprinted with your logo, to market your business. Pet themed items can be specifically for the pet such as custom water bowls or they can be used by both pet and non pet owners such as paw shaped letter slitters. Frisbees and stuffed animals are fun giveaways for everyone including pets and non pet owners! Continue reading →

Staying Productive During the Dog Days of Summer

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Business Planning, ON: Sunday, August 16th, 2015

The dog days of summer are here. It can be hard to stay productive during this season while co-workers and employees go on vacation, summer hours go into effect or maybe even your business slows down a bit. In this post we will look at ways to stay productive during the dog days of summer.

What are the dog days of summer, anyway?

What thoughts come to mind when you hear the phrase “the dog days of summer”? Warm weather, sunny beaches, pool side barbecues or family road trips? Or maybe you think of it in more of a literal sense like dogs lying around in the heat or playing around like this fun video from America’s Funniest Home Videos (AVF).

Sidney Hall [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sidney Hall [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

While the term may mean many of those things to us today, I think you would be surprised to learn about its origin. It comes from the Greek belief about the star Sirius also known as the dog star in the Canis Major and Lepus constellation. Take a look at the image above. The Greeks believed that Canis Major was like a dog chasing a hare named Lepus. The dog star Sirius is at the tip of the dog’s nose. The dog days of summer occur when Sirius lines up with the Sun. These days are believed to be the hottest days of the year. However, we know now that this couldn’t be true. While the months of July and August are usually the hottest the hottest days can vary from year to year depending on where you live. We also know that a star could never warm up the Earth as much as our Sun already does. However the term “dog days of summer” has stuck and taken on a whole new meaning. Continue reading →

Ways to Attract an Unfamiliar Audience

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Client Relationships, ON: Saturday, May 30th, 2015

gs-blog-attract-unfamiliar-crowd

Have you ever had to speak in front of a large audience? So many people get nervous when it comes to public speaking. They might feel uncomfortable about their appearance, how they sound or it’s just an unfamiliar situation. Sometimes, this is similar to how if feels when you have to present your business to an unfamiliar crowd. So, here are a few tips on ways to attract an unfamiliar audience. Continue reading →

What is Short-term, Long-term and Brand Memory?

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Branding, ON: Saturday, April 11th, 2015

brand-memory

The human mind is incredible. Our brains are our most complex body part. Everyday our brain has to accomplish a million different functions including building and recalling from our memory. Isn’t it amazing how many things we can remember… and forget! To think we only use 10% of our brains. Imagine if we could access the other 90% we could be super human.

How Our Memories Work

As you may know our brains have short-term and long-term memories. Each functions from a different part of the brain. When you are dialing a phone number your brain has to store information into its short-term memory. This causes regions of your pre-frontal lobe to become very active. This is very front of your brain where your forehead is. We keep our pre-frontal lobe active during most of the day as we work on accomplishing everyday tasks.

Information is transferred from the short-term memory to the long-term memory via the hippocampus, which is found in the temporal lobe. This is when your brain starts to encode and sort the information. Then the brain works on recalling the memory.

Watch this fun video on how our memories work.

Continue reading →

What is Branding?

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Branding, ON: Friday, February 27th, 2015

magic-of-branding-garrett-specialties

Characteristics of good branding are comprised of some of the following key concepts.

Knowing your target market. A good brand has to understand it’s audience. Many times companies try to appeal to everyone and in-turn fall short because they lack direction.

A brand has to be driven by passion. It takes a passionate company to build a successful brand. That includes employees and customers that are willing to stand behind the brand. Word-of-mouth marketing is an expression of enthusiasm for a brand and can be it’s biggest supporter.

Businesses that are passionate about their brand have returning customers.  They have returning customers because they are consistent with good customer service and a product that delivers.

Create distinctive ideas. A product or service should have something unique about it. Uniqueness will set a company apart from the rest. A unique quality can also be a very strong selling point.

Getting your name out their using different forms of media. A successful and distinctive brand connects with it’s audience over the internet and through social media. Another way to build brand identity is at trade shows and with custom corporate gifts.

So what is the real magic of branding? This video by David Brier of DBD International explains it best. It’s about rising above and out of our own minds into the minds of others. It’s when we have “tapped into our ability to see, not as ourselves, but as others”. “In and through the eyes, hearts and minds of people”. The magic of branding is when you can transform feelings into something people can connect with and resinate with.film Logan

 

A good understanding of what you are branding and all of it’s elements will lead you to ideas for branding success. What do you define as good branding? How will you engage with your clients today? How have you seen businesses and consumers relish the magic of branding? What is your meaning of branding?

How to Make People Fall in Love with Your Brand

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Client Relationships, ON: Thursday, January 29th, 2015
Heart Stress Reliever

Heart Stress Reliever

Valentine’s Day is one of the post popular holidays in the United States. In fact, it’s second most popular holiday for greeting cards; the first being Christmas. The history of Valentine’s Day is interesting. It wasn’t until the 1840s that it became a major consumer holiday. Now Americans spend billions each year expressing their love. Watch this video for more fun facts.

Well, it’s that time of year and love is in the air. Do you want that same attention for your brand? Here are some ideas on how to make people fall in love with your brand. Continue reading →

Promotional Branding Trends of 2015

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Brand Awareness, ON: Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

As we enter a new year it’s a good idea to take a quick look at promotional branding trends and predictions.  Google defines the word trend as “a general direction in which something is developing or changing.” These trends can influence the way we choose to brand our businesses in 2015.

share-a-coke

Share a Coke: Australia www.coca-colacompany.com

Personalized Promotions are In

Personalized promotions are the way to go. Today’s consumer is looking for personal attention and customized experiences. Making that connection with your customers is a definite way to build brand recognition. The Coca-Cola Share a Coke campaign is a great example. They took 250 popular names and words such as family, mom and dad then printed them on Coke cans and bottles so that people could search for their name or their friend’s name in the cooler.  Asics created miniature 3-D replica models of marathon runners. Continue reading →

The Importance of Color and the Pantone Color of the Year

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Promotional Products, ON: Saturday, December 13th, 2014

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Every year Pantone sets the trend for colors in print design, marketing and advertising, interior design and many other industries by announcing their color of the year. Well, Pantone just released the Pantone color of the year for 2015: Marsala Pantone color number 18-1438.

What is Pantone and the PMS Matching System?

Pantone “is the world-renowned authority on color.” They provide color systems for various industries and are most known for their Pantone Matching System (PMS). The Pantone Matching System is a way of standardizing colors in the CMYK coloring process. CMYK stands for the four colors used in full color printing. Layers and combinations of the CMYK colors create full color images and print. The colors are cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The PMS system provides the correct mixtures for color matching. PMS colors can also be translated into RGB. RGB (red, green, blue) are screen based colors. For example your television and computer screen use the RGB model.

Why is PMS matching important?

PMS colors are significant to the promotional products industry. We use Pantone colors on a daily basis when imprinting custom items with logos and marketing messages. PMS matching is important to corporations who have specific colors as part of their corporate identity. At times it is necessary to come “as close as possible” to the PMS color of the imprint. There are many reasons why you may not be able to get an exact PMS match. For example some reasons may be the color of the item that the ink is being placed on or PMS matching is sometimes not available. In many cases to save on cost businesses may choose to come “as close as possible” to avoid a PMS matching fee.

Why is Marsala the Pantone color of 2015?

Marsala is full of richness like fortified wine. It’s earthy and warm which gives off a feeling of satisfaction and comfort. Marsala is also an Indian spice and it is a bold and radiant color. As shown in the video, Pantone describes Marsala as robust, earthy, sophisticated, hearty, stylish and fulfilling.

The Importance of Color in Branding and Advertising

As mentioned above color is important to corporate identity. It helps you remember a brand such as the brown UPS truck, red Target shopping carts or the bright orange Home Depot work buckets. The brown UPS truck represents dependability. The red Target shopping carts convey a feeling of excitement and represent bargain shopping. Orange for Home Depot represents construction and building. A brand with consistent color across it’s marketing increases brand recognition by 80 percent.

Color is also a good way to categorize products or services. For example, you can easily differentiate FedEx express (purple and orange) and FedEx ground (purple and green) by their colors. Did you notice that both FedEx services use purple?

Color is important in branding and advertising because of it’s psychological impact. Use the right color to convey the right feeling. Color is also important for recognition.

How do you use color in your marketing? What do you think about the Pantone color for 2015? Do you like trying different colors or do have a certain color you stick to? What’s your personal favorite color? Will you use Pantone Marsala in your design or advertising this coming year?

How to Stimulate Creativity

POSTED BY: Arleen, FILED AS: Business Planning, ON: Saturday, November 22nd, 2014

As marketers, business people, developers, innovators, bloggers, parents and creatives we have to be on top of our game in order to stay ahead. Technology is always changing the way we communicate. We have to be fast thinkers in this instant world that we live in.

I enjoy watching Ellen DeGeneres whenever I need a good belly laugh. I came across this video with Ellen and Rebel Wilson the other day and thought it was a fun example of how in marketing or in life we can fall into situations where we need to do a little improvisation as well. I have also come up with a few ideas to share about how we can stimulate our creativity when we run into a block.
Continue reading →