Marketing - PromoKitchen

Pork Chops And Promos: Debating Supplier ‘Referral Fees’

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Promo Kitchen

Robert Fiveash is co-president of Brand Fuel. As distributor and supplier principals and leaders, we are always on the lookout for successful salespeople. In many cases, either by necessity or strategy, we pluck fresh-faced newbies from outside the promotional products space and spend time and treasure training them to become professionals in the industry. It’s a bit unsettling when they…

Outside The Box is Not Far Enough

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Brad White

Yesterday, at businesses everywhere, this meeting happened: “Okay everyone, we need to think outside the box for next year’s marketing campaign. We want some ideas that will really shake things up. What we want is a game-changer! What crazy ideas do you have?” Then the ideas start rolling. “Let’s throw a launch-party! Let’s give away a car! Let’s support a…

The “S” Word

Posted on July 5, 2012 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

The following article was written by Danny Braunstein, vice president sales and business development-Western Canada at Talbot Promo. Last week, the promotional products industry was featured on the front page of the venerable Wall Street Journal. The focus of the piece was on ASI Chairman and industry pioneer Mr. Norman Cohn. To be sure, press of this magnitude is a tremendous coup…

Hi, My Name Is Rain. What’s Yours?

Posted on May 1, 2012 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

Steve Woodburn, MAS, is an account manager for Staples Promotional Products. Reach him at stephen.woodburn@staplespromoproducts.com. I’ve always been fascinated with brands, their products and the names chosen for those products. Some become iconic and last for centuries while others struggle to survive even a few years. DuPont, Colgate and Citibank have been operating for 200+ years while scores of others…

Yeah, I Do Buy A Lot of Swag, But Typically From My Aunt

Posted on April 19, 2012 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

The following article was written by Kamran Popkin, creative director (and rebel-rousing instigator) at swagclub. Several years ago, I was referred to one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Checked her shop out on the FB and was stunned. She’s unreal. And, I don’t mean cute, or even sultry. She is chest-clutching, breath-defying beauty. Poetry in motion. So awesome,…

Marketing With Video: 4 Myths Debunked

Posted on March 21, 2012 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

The following post was contributed by Heidi Thorne, president and founder of Thorne Communications and publisher of Promo With Purpose Today. According to recent stats, there are 4 billion views on YouTube PER DAY. There are about 800 million unique visitors to YouTube every month. In 2011, there were over 1 trillion video views on YouTube. Translation? That is equivalent to…

Content is the New Cold Call

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Bobby Lehew

Do you receive cold calls either via phone or face-to-face? Do you ever listen to an entire pitch? I still receive cold calls. They’re called interruptions. Do you read blogposts? News articles? Newsletters? Watch video? Listen to podcasts or audio? Creative, compelling, helpful content is the new cold call. Much of your success in cold calling relies on timing. If…

Disconnected – The Social Media #Fail

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Charity Gibson

Twitter and Facebook are great tools for a sanguine girl like me. It’s awesome to be able to banter back and forth with hundreds of different people from different cities and countries without having to break away from my work here in the office. There is actually a whole group of us promo people that start our days by greeting…

Perception is Reality

Posted on December 7, 2011 by PromoKitchen Contributing Editor

In the fall of 2011, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order effectively reducing the overall spend on promotional products within the US Federal Government by twenty percent. The reaction by our industry was swift and absolutely incorrect. PPAI sent lobbyists to the Hill to protest and asked its members to contact their representatives to do the same on the…

Gone Bananas!

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Charity Gibson

What is marketing anyway? Are you ready for the Miriam Webster definition? Here goes: “The process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service” Wow. That makes me want to jump out of my seat and go brand something! If I had known I was in for this much excitement as a marketing specialist I would have…