Marketing and Sales
February 23, 2016 at 8:05 pm
Let’s say you have 17 seconds to make a convincing, credible and concise point. Could you do it? I often pose this question to printers and promotional companies around the country. They don’t enjoy what I call the “17-second challenge” at the moment, but, in time, tell me how much it helped them reflect and change. I hope it does the same for you and makes you think at a deeper level...
February 23, 2016 at 7:47 pm
The Magnet Group, Washington, Mo., announced the hiring of Jessica Hutwelker as regional sales manager for Northern California, Washington and Oregon. Hutwelker has been in the industry since 2005, working on the distributor side in outside sales and management roles of national co-op programs...
February 23, 2016 at 5:37 pm
Quad/Graphics is testing the technology waters by bounding its Quad Virtual Reality (QVR) Viewer into 500,000 newsstand versions of the 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Readers engaging in the VR experience will be treated to behind-the-scenes...
February 21, 2016 at 4:09 pm
Paul M. Lage, president and CEO of Gill Studios Inc., Lenexa, Kan., shares his thoughts on the industry, and explains how his company is staying relevant.
February 20, 2016 at 9:40 pm
The decision to target a particular vertical market isn’t simple. Some have likened it to making a financial investment—if the timing is right, your efforts could reap significant benefits. On the other hand, if the market of choice is regulated or easily influenced by outside sources, your losses could be substantial. Because a single technology or product line doesn’t necessarily measure success in the supply-chain market, you might be wondering if it’s better to be everything to everyone. Broadening your focus across multiple markets might not pay off as big upfront, but it could be a safer investment in the end.
February 18, 2016 at 4:12 pm
We learned a lot from “The Breakfast Club.” People are not defined by their cliques (or their reasons for being in detention); always bring a lunch big enough to share; and this cold, hard truth: The world is an imperfect place—screws fall loose all the time...
February 16, 2016 at 8:44 pm
Sterling, Illinois-based promotional product distributor HALO Branded Solutions is already a supporter of the Promotional Products Educational Foundation (PPEF) that provides scholarships for promotional products professionals and their dependents. HALO Branded Solutions will expand its support of up-and-coming marketing visionaries with its own scholarship contest...
February 16, 2016 at 8:14 pm
“There are plenty of fish in the sea” is a comforting sentiment in theory. But, when we stop to think about it, weeding through the sheer volume of “fish in the sea” to find the right match is a little overwhelming. Sometimes the tags and labels market feels that way, too...
February 9, 2016 at 9:13 pm
In consulting with companies and speaking to many groups across the country, I ask them the following question: What level of competence is your communication in? The goal in this process is to define where your communications level is today in order to best determine how to improve tomorrow. We all want to grow, right? And let’s face it, communication is the backbone of every organization...
February 2, 2016 at 8:02 pm
People are much smarter than puppies, but raising a puppy can teach you a lot about how to manage people. I know this because with Tiffany, my family’s first puppy 25-plus years ago, I did everything wrong. Tiffany was never potty trained, constantly barked at nothing…
