The Promotional Idea Showcase - Summer 2000 - Updated Quarterly

The Internet has made possible a whole new way of doing business in the promotional products industry. But don’t get click-happy just yet. They still haven’t found a way to digitize the personal relationship you enjoy with your counselor.

Based on your own experience, you know that a promotional products program requires time-consuming research, legwork and troubleshooting that’s best done by someone else – your counselor, in this case. “There’s a reason why the things we do take so long and we’re so good at it,” says counselor Susanne Denny. But the Internet has brought changes to this business, both for your counselor and others in the logoed products arena. There’s a new breed of vendor out there these days – the e-counselor. They have Web sites where you can browse product categories, upload your logo and place it on a product image. You can order and pay your bills online. In other words, you can get promotional products without ever speaking to or seeing another human. Sound great? Consider this: Do you really want to get involved with a system that actually draws you deeper into the time-consuming buying process? You might not consider it time well-spent to search for products, pulling down menu after menu to find the kind of pen you usually order out of literally thousands available. As in most other industries, the Web’s greatest role in promotional products involves enhancing its existing strengths. You might find it useful if your counselor could direct you to a site where you can see a “virtual” sample with your logo on it. And an e-mail exchange might suit both of you in terms of sending artwork, clearing up questions, sharing ideas and/or alerting each other to things without either of you taking your hands off the keyboard. Eyes On E-Counselors E-counselors shouldn’t be confused with more traditional counselors who have Web sites. In the case of the former, the majority of their business is done online. With the latter, it’s essentially an add-on service not intended to replace traditional face-to-face contact. Most e-counselors started up in the last year or so. Therefore, many people might not know about them yet. No doubt you’ll hear about them if you haven’t already – some have aligned themselves with big-name promotional consultants who’ve been in the industry for years in an attempt to “legitimize” themselves. Certain Limitations It’s easy to see some of the attractions of purchasing logoed goods online. But there are limits to this approach. At some point, your time becomes more valuable than any advantage you can get from the Web. One West Coast counselor, Craig Nadel, has spent a lot of time researching Web sites dealing with imprinted merchandise in an attempt to keep up on potential business rivals. In all his surfing, he only found one site with which he couldn’t comfortably compete price-wise. Another thing to remember: Chances are your counselor has access to a much larger selection of products and styles than you’ll even find on an e-counselor’s site. Future Shock We’ve all seen important technology come and go before. No matter how revolutionary it is, each new development is almost invariably oversold. Remember voicemail? It was originally heralded as an economical way to boost customer sevice by routing callers through a list of options. Turned out a lot of people hated it. The same sort of trumpeting was heard for faxes, e-mail and computers in general. Tech people, for example, have been touting the paperless office for over a decade. But most people who get a memo via e-mail end up printing it out anyway for a permanent record. Similarly, it’s unlikely that e-commerce will destroy the retail world. Amazon.com hasn’t killed off traditional bricks-and-mortar bookstores. And by the same token, the e-counselor won’t do away with the personal relationships and creativity that have long characterized the promotional products industry. That’s what Denny has found with many of her clients. “I’ve been told, ‘Could you just do it for me? I don’t care what it costs,’” she says. “They don’t have time to do the sourcing.” So even if it is possible to do your promotional products buying exclusively online at 4 a.m., you might not want to. Ed Johnson, a Northwest counselor, has found this out in dealing with clients. “I don’t even see someone from Microsoft doing that,” he says. “If you can get through [to them], they’re very happy to get out of their cubicle.” He notes that many people at tech firms might do well to leave their cubicles for another reason: “The people that are into high tech are more left-brained, and they’re not going to bring the creativity that’s going to make a promotion work.” Other Models Even if they’re not becoming virtual salespeople, some counselors have established their own Web sites. Some are fairly sophisticated, with pull-downs, product lists, case histories and company information. Some are far simpler, perhaps set up with their kids’ help. If your counselor has a Web site, check it out. It might turn you on to an idea or product that wouldn’t come up in the time you normally consult with your counselor in your office. Then call her to talk about how you can use it effectively in a multi-faceted promotional campaign. Some counselors have proprietary Web sites. They give you a password that lets you see products with your logo, set up virtual catalog sheets so your employees can browse through products you might use in a recognition or safety program, and other customized options. They can still do hard-copy catalogs, but a virtual program can be quicker, more nimble and less expensive to launch. The Miracle Of E-Mail Another way counselors are venturing into cyberspace is with e-mail. It costs basically as much to send a million e-mails as it does to send one. In the right hands, a mass e-mailing can help promote your firm and its products/services. Some counselors will put together e-mail newsletters for clients or help you with a standard direct-mail campaign. This might include a sweepstakes, a promotional product giveaway or another premium using a Web-based questionnaire or survey that can help you build a sophisticated client/prospect database. Of course, you don’t need to send mailings by the millions to make them pay off. E-mail is also a good way to work out the small details that might come up while your promotional products order is being processed. It’s certainly better than playing phone tag. And when you can also send logos, artwork and virtual samples via e-mail, you’re bound to save on postage – particularly overnight deliveries. What To Do You don’t need Imprint to tell you to look on the Web for marketing wisdom and assistance. In fact, you could probably teach us a thing or two about what the Web can do for businesses. But we can offer some advice on maximizing your use of the ’Net as it relates to promotional products: If you’re interested in an e-counselor site, explore it through your counselor. These are new business models using software to handle details once left in human hands. It can help tremendously to have some professional guidance. If you haven’t done any promotions online, try it. Ask your counselor about experimenting with an Internet-based promotional-products campaign. Ask your counselor for some industry Web addresses. Publishers and trade organizations in the industry have sites designed specifically for corporate buyers. They’ll often spark an idea or two you might not have thought of. Even if you use the Internet to expand your promotions, the current relationship you have with your counselor is something you’ll never replace with a computer. As Johnson says, “People haven’t changed. They still need to interact with other human beings.” Connie O’Kane is senior writer of Imprint.