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Great info shared by Brandlove! Market away!
Jimi Hendrix!
Epic. Legendary. Larger-than-life.
Wearing his favorite military jacket purchased in London.
His Star Spangled Banner still rocks our 4th. And his image endures with screen printed designs by Slingshot T-Shirts.
Have a happy, safe celebration.
Your Company is Branded…Now What?
After all the arduous work – or just great luck – of coming up with a brand and slogan that will burn into brains of potential consumers, now comes the “follow-up” part. And this is the part that will help to ensure longevity of your company and what it sells, sustainability of your livelihood and customers; excitement and encouragement to meet the beginning of each new business day. It’s called INTERACTION! And this needs to be accomplished each and every on-line day via all your current and new social interaction tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Foursquare and all the other sites you use to attract and keep customers interested, informed and excited about your company.
And now we diverge. Please click on the “new rules of branding” as compiled by Inc.com (even though this was written a year ago, it still holds true). And be sure to watch for these words: Consistent, Excel, Dive in, Social Media, Respond and Showcase, because these are the words, thoughts and deeds that will keep us all up and running on a spectacular course in the business world, no matter the size of the company.
And I have just one more tip to add: as part of the follow-up, become hugely thank you-based. That means, send out thanks for comments/posts, include a TY note w/a packing list when an order is shipped and again when you know it’s been received. And, if an option, dare I say, actually telephone in a personal thanks for the customer’s business.
It’s good to share your thoughts and experiences. Thanks for reading and subscribing, as always.
See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet!
Industry News: RhinoTech Helps Raise Money to Eradicate, Wipe Out and, Yes, Eliminate Type 1, Insulin Dependent Diabetes
For RhinoTech, the race to cure Type 1, insulin-dependent diabetes is more than just a great cause to support. It’s personal. So…to help spur efforts that will eventually enable researchers to find a cure, RhinoTech sponsors Team Michael in the annual Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Walk for the Cure. Held on April 14, 2012 in Sarasota, Florida, the team walked in solidarity with thousands of other walkers/fund raisers from two counties in Florida and from around the world (it’s high-season in Florida w/vacationers and students on spring break). On behalf of children and young adults living with Type 1 Diabetes and who must take insulin several times a day in order to stay alive, the money collected will go toward life-saving research leading to the eventual cure.
Team Michael extends immense thanks to all friends/supporters in the world of screen and graphics printing. We are grateful for your support.
To learn more, please contact Gregory Markus, president of RhinoTech and member of Team Michael/RhinoTech at gregory@rhinotechinc.com, 651-686-5027 ext. 2. You can reach RhinoTech in all the right places:
Do Good, Receive Mass Exposure.
“Giving back” is the right thing to do. It feeds our sense of social justice and “helps to repair the world”. Even in down economic times, when we’ve only been able to give in-kind and not monetarily, it is easy to remain involved and active to help others in our communities who are most in-need (such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
With the past few years being so tough, economically, we know lots of small business owners who’ve questioned whether they should continue on this path of giving. How can a business afford to continue to give even in-kind assistance when, for example, they struggle with the escalating price of raw materials, the need to meet employee salaries, on-going marketing/advertising needs when budgets are virtually non-existent; when the need to spend money on trade-show exhibits or attendance is important?
The answer is, without hesitation, is that it’s our inherent make-up as human beings to help those in-need and it’s just the right thing to do. And another answer is that, in the process, this continued involvement will definitely, most assuredly, open up avenues for networking, exposure and sales opportunities for your business. Really, it’s a win-win situation with long-term benefit.
There are many upsides to partnering/supporting one (or more) of the zillions of worthy non-profits. Instead of donating money, VOLUNTEER to design/print T-shirts or hats or signs for a fundraising event. This will give you extraordinary visibility, the non-profit will be immensely grateful and you will generate a mass marketing campaign for your company when the signs, t-shirts, hats, hoodies, jackets that you printed also include the name of your company. For example, “T-shirts designed/printed and donated by The Best Printing Company in the World”.
Think about the JDRF annual Walk for the Cure. Literally, thousands of walkers will view the t-shirt design you printed on the back of the shirt with your logo and name designating your company as the contributor. This, alone, will magnify one-on-one discussions about what your company does and why you became involved. The networking and card trading will ensue from there – all on a Saturday morning. And don’t forget to follow-up.
Additionally, when you contribute shirts, hats, signs, etc, 1) your company’s name will appear in all written pieces by the organization; 2) your company’s name will appear in e-newsletters thanking you as a contributor or sponsor depending on the level of commitment; 3) make sure that you send photo’s of the team and t-shirt/hat/sign images with a brief description of the event and your contribution to the editors of the business and community sections of all major local and regional papers. Smaller, neighborhood papers and other speciality publications welcome these types of news stories; 4) be prompt in sending the same information to trade publications and other on-line industry news sites (like this one) so that your company will gain optimal exposure; 5) make sure to post pictures with date/time/place/name of event and what you contributed on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, this INDUSTRY NEWS site and other social media your company uses.
In the end, your company will reap the benefits of this additional exposure both socially and economically from the new customers who will choose to send their business your way as a result of your company’s community service. Company employees will receive an opportunity to champion a great organization and cause as a result of their involvement. And it will be just plain fun. How can you lose? Best of luck.
THANKS FOR READING and SUBSCRIBING and OFFERING INDUSTRY NEWS-WORTHY INFORMATION.
Engage, Engage, Engage….
We’re fresh from a Social Media program and the only word that comes to mind is WOW. The presenter believes that this era of social media marketing will be over in 5 years. What? I’m feeling like I just finally “got it” (sort of) even with three blogs, three facebook pages, two twitter accounts, one youtube channel and assorted other marketing venues. What will take place in the predicted 5 years is out of my current realm of thinking. I can only hope that I’ll figure it out with this 50+ brain power combined with lots of tutorial by the younger generation of techno gurus (that really means begging children to help me).
So…this is my brief take on what I learned that I want to share with others in the screen printing and graphics printing worlds:
- Take your Brand Equity and hurry up; work it and convert it within every avenue of social media. Engage everyone in all sorts of topics other than what you’re trying to sell. Brand Equity is a brand’s power derived from the goodwill and name recognition that it has earned over time that translates into higher sales volume and higher profit margins against competing brands. Please tell me that I won’t have to work 15 hour days to accomplish this?!
- Get real! An emotional, feel-good attachment to the way you are NOT working with social media is a good way to go out of business. I straightened up on that one. It means get on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Linkedin, youtube, Tumblr and just get going. Like baby steps, the first few are the toughest.
- You’d better learn how to text. I raised my hand high when the presenter asked, “how many of you said to your kids that you would never text w/them, that only phone calls between you would be the course of communication”? And then he asked by a show of hands, “how many of you pretty much communicate via texting with your kids today?” I stood up to raise my hand the highest. Oh, how the mighty fall with lots of humility.
- You’d better thank your customers right away. Enough said.
- Engage, engage, engage not push, push, push. Offer free samples, ask for feedback, laugh, discuss, engage some more, laugh, discuss and, only then, ask for the order.
- Transition your customers to friends. This happens when you engage, engage, engage.
So…I invite you to engage and thank you for taking the time to read this and connnect @: facebook.com/rhinotech; twitter.com/rhinomitemn; rhinoblast.blogspot.com; youtube.com/rhinotechcompany.
Let’s get out there and build some brand equity!
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