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   December 2012 Meet Our Team     Need Ideas?     Read Our Blog   
 
Browse From This Month’s Best! Whether you love new merchandise or you prefer proven favorites, we’ve got you covered. Click on the images for this month’s collections of products. Questions? Call us or send us an email!
New Products Best Sellers
 

Planning Your 2013 PromotionsBudget, target audience, creativity, frequency, and opportunity will impact the effectiveness of your promotions in the coming year. But regardless of these variables, there are strategies for maximizing your marketing dollars. A few ideas follow.

Share your calendar with us. Let’s say each summer you host a gathering for employees and their families, or each quarter you recognize employee milestones. If we know now what’s on your agenda for the coming year we can be on the lookout for relevant products. We might even catch a closeout worth considering.

Get in front of your audience regularly. You’ll strengthen ties with your audience and encourage them to contact you quarterly if you reach out to them each quarter. We can suggest promotional gifts suited for each season (e.g., warmth and care-related products for winter) which will keep a campaign of messages fresh and fun.

Stand out from competitors at events. Your exhibit is important, but don’t drop the ball when it comes to pre-show, at-show, and post-show marketing. Research shows a majority of exhibitors do not plan to engage attendees appropriately or reward their attention. Even more shocking – 80% of leads are never followed up post-show. We’ll entice attendees to visit your booth and prepare a promotion that’s ready to release the minute you get back to your office.

Take advantage of discounts. Although it can be a challenge to anticipate your needs 12 months out, it’s worth a discussion. If you expect to use a large quantity of an item (e.g., a gift you give to new customers month after month), we can secure quantity discounts and release product as needed. You’ll save time, money and storage space.

Spend more on a few select prospects. There’s a famous promotional products case study about a business owner who sent personalized pizza cutters in custom-made boxes to 12 key decision makers he wanted to meet. The boxes, which contained the pizza cutter and a letter, were delivered just before lunch along with a real pizza. When the business owner followed up, all 12 prospects agreed to meet with him. Sometimes it makes sense to spend more on a small number of key prospects versus less on a larger audience.

We’re here to simplify and increase the effectiveness of your promotional marketing. Let’s talk soon about how to make the most of 2013.
Each year, The Salvation Army helps families in crisis enjoy a special Christmas holiday through its Adopt-A-Family program. In our Kansas office a group of employees are participating in the program. Each employee participant purchases grocery gift cards for his or her adopted family member and at least two gifts for each child. The Salvation Army provides the names, ages and wishes of the children to make this program more meaningful. Our team is also bringing in extra gift wrap and bags for the parents of their adopted families to wrap the gifts. We’re proud of our team members who support this initiative!

How We Celebrate the Holiday Season

We asked a few National Premium employees how they celebrate the holiday season each year. The responses were a mix of traditions as well as ways they make Christmas meaningful for others. We thought you’d enjoy learning a little more about us…

For a number of years, we’ve “adopted” a family. The past several years it’s been the same family. We buy Santa’s gifts for the kids, and we give gift cards to the parents to use to purchase gifts for the kids and for each other. - Emily Dunnigan

My wife and I are big animal lovers. Sometimes we feel like our four-legged friends are forgotten this time of year. We have been collecting pet products each trip we make to Wal-Mart or the grocery store, and we’re going to bring them to our favorite local animal shelter before Christmas. – Jeff Kranz

In years past, my daughter and I have volunteered with Santa’s Toy Shop for the Christmas Clearing Council in Waukesha, WI. We’re assigned families to walk around with and help them pick out gifts from donations that have come in all year long. There are thousands of presents for kids of all ages, set up in a school gym. Each family goes home with at least two lawn-and-leaf size bags of toys! It’s amazing to see the happiness on the faces of the families who might otherwise not have any Christmas gifts.  – Nicki Witek

My favorite tradition is participating in the Christmas Shoe Box gift program through our church. We take a plastic shoe box and fill it with items for a specific age group to be sent somewhere in the world as needed. The ladies in our church also adopt one or two families for Christmas and provide gifts. I think this is special given the size of our church – we have only 20 active members! – Juanita Peckham

When the first inch of snow has fallen for the season, the entire family runs outside to the front yard, barefooted. We then have to make a lap around the house in the snow! - Jenny McCarty

One family tradition has been making homemade Christmas ornaments and having a contest for the winner of the best ornament. Some years we’ve had restrictions on how large the ornament can be, the materials we’re allowed to use (or not use), or whether the ornament had to be able to actually hang on the tree. Some years, because we’re a competitive bunch, there’s been a lot of “conflict” about the winner – or loser! – Wendy Faber

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

The National Premium Team

    
 
Telephone: 800.755.0335 Email: sales@nationalpremium.com Web: www.nationalpremium.com