Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

I've had a lot of success with this place: https://www.identitynow.com/catalog/default.asp

I've bought tons of polo shirts, dress shirts, and other promo items from them over the years. What makes them unique is they really know customer service, especially if you have tight deadlines. They do custom logos and embroderies on all their items. Their standard prices are a bit high, but it's worth every penny if you have the money. They also have close out specials every now and then that are top quality at a real steal, but the sizes are limited.



Another place I recommend for clothes:
https://www.evatees.com/default.asp

Evatees also has fantastic customer service. What sets them apart is all their prices are wholesale, so you have to buy bulk. Their shirts are the same ones as carried by JC Penny's or Kohl's. They don't have imprinting capability, so you'll have to have it done by another vendor. But their prices and selection are unbeatable for the quality.

Good luck!

Away from the usual set of office material, how about a set of essential aromatic relaxing bath or message oils .I got this myself as a gift from Ericsson last year.
I thought it wsa really cool.

I'd like to wade into this one with both feet. Customers will tell you exactly what they want as a reward, and how they want to get that reward...if you ask them.

I advise clients to involve their customers in the process of designing a loyalty program for the following reasons:

1) involving customers proves that your business is reactive and approachable
2) your customers see you listen and follow through when you implent their advice
3) participation goes up with your best customers because you 'listened', 'acted', and provided the customer with a reward they 'wanted'.
4) your customers know what they want better than you ever will.
5) customers may surprise you and ask for less than what you are thinking of offering.

Point five is a key point. I've had a few situations where customers have filled in this survey and the programs they wanted, as well as the rewards they would like, were less than what the business owner was thinking of offering . Just goes to show, we don't understand our customers as well as we could!

So, how do I gather customer feedback? Well, let me get kind of commercial (but I'll also share an example you can look at and 'creatively adapt' if you wish). Here is the sample:

https://www.dalmatiancleaners.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=53

The survey I've designed will gather input directly from customers. Customers can check off selections they would like, and they can also fill in their own selections if we haven't guessed at what they wanted.

Now to be commercial. I offer clients a hosted service to survey their customers. I can duplicate (or modify this stock survey to your needs) and host it on my server. The survey kit comes complete with marketing materials to promote the online survey. Clients can download a hang tag to promote their survey. They can add a link on their web pages to this hosted survey. They can email a link to their customers to the hosted survey. Finally, there is a paper based copy of this survey (in PDF format) that you can print out and keep in store for folks who wish to fill in a paper survey. You then go to your online survey and fill in the paper surveys to get all the work into your online database. I'll email you the results of the survey in a format you can import into Excel to analyze your results. I'm selling the kit and one month's rent of the online survey for $200.00. Contact me if you want further details.

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network

Customer gifts can be great and they can be a waste of money... depending on how they are used.

I advise to stay away from office Nick-knacks unless they have the customers name on them.
I personally hate golf...yet I have a drawer full of golf balls from vendors and partners.. a waste.
I like utility items that can be worn. This gets your name and logo out there. I also like items that are different. If your target customer is younger.. I like the new style "bowling shirt" look. If your audience is more conservative. I suggest the pull over.
I also advise clients to give the gift of utility items like USB memory sticks.

Good Luck
Frank Hurtte

This company offers quality products! I highly recommend: https://www.europawatch.com. Also, Zippo has a very nice line of quality products too.

Chocolate, chocolate chocolate, gourmet of course, all sizes all flavours all price ranges.

Easily shipped, enjoyed immediately or shared with others who ask the question, 'where did you get these?!"

Your free extra mileage comes with their answer, Costanza sent them!

Perhaps twinning with a favourite chocolatier could save you money by including easy discount coupons for followup orders with your gift, giving YOU chocolate credits for your next Corp. thank-you order!

Cheers!