The Beauty of Recycled Products

Are you one of the millions of people who have received lots of promotional items from your business partners or potential vendors? Maybe you are beginning to design a marketing or promotional campaign and want to avoid adding to this situation, or maybe you are hoping to limit the amount of plastic or harmful materials used in your "giveaways". If so, you can find a good solution in the vast array of promotional recycled merchandise available.

Now, before you leap to the conclusion that your choices are going to be limited to a few items, you should know that recycled merchandise includes everything from fleece jackets and customizable umbrellas, to gorgeous mugs and all kinds of office supplies. This means that nearly any target group can have an ideally matched freebie available.

What is a target group? When you plan on using promotional products it is always essential to consider the primary audience of recipients in order to be sure that the merchandise they receive has some sort of relevance and usefulness to them. For instance, if your clients tend to operate away from their desk or office, you would want to give them promotional merchandise that could easily transition between their desk and their briefcase. This would mean that recycled note pads, writing implements, and mobile device holders would make for truly useful, relevant and meaningful giveaways.

Meaningful is also an important word in any discussion about the creation of promotional campaigns, and this is because it is a term that serves a dual purpose. For one thing, any promotional product has to somehow form a connection between the consumer and the business (such as a tech firm handing out imprinted USB devices to new clients), but it can also send a much more subtle message too. This is particularly the case where recycled goods are concerned.

For example, let's say that you have decided to hand out pencils to all of your new or potential clients since these are a very affordable form of advertising and promotion. This is a very practical approach to marketing, but if you also add another element to the message, such as giving out only recycled pencils, then you are telling your customers a bit more about your business ethic. By choosing a recycled product you are conveying a concern about the environment, the future, and the way that resources are consumed and used in the modern world. Simon Patnick, Managing Director of http://www.MerchandiseMania.co.uk mentioned such corporate responsibility initiatives in a recent blog entry, and affirmed that ethics and responsibility are two key factors in business success in the coming decade.

If this is the sort of message that you want to send to your potential customers or to an existing customer base, then it is always going to be the recycled goods to choose. You can, however, also consider handing out recyclable or biodegradable goods as well.  What would these include? Generally, you will find an enormous array of shopping bags and totes that are made from recyclable or biodegradable materials and there are few people who don't appreciate such a promotional product. These can be used for weekly shopping, toting recyclables to the curb, and much more. They are also an excellent form of free advertising, and can serve as a core feature in any marketing plan.

The Earthquake in Japan will Affect us all!

Ok, so first things first. The earthquake that struck Japan last week followed by the Tsunami and subsequent aftershocks is a terrible tragedy for Japan its people and all associated and affected by it. My heart goes out to the whole country.

I cannot see how anyone could not be moved by the images and the scenes of destruction shown by the media.

I have been asked by my team here how this will affect us over here and in our business. Clearly our hope is that our Japanese customers are ok and unaffected by the quake, however right now we are yet to hear.

Right now there is a huge shortage of electrical components due to the earthquake in Japan. The Financial Times (FT) states that 30% of the worlds flash memory (our USB’s included) are made in Japan! 10-15% of D-Ram which is a key component in every personal computer also made in Japan along with approximately 40% of the worlds technology components.

Toshiba Corporation, the world's second-largest maker of NAND chips after South Korea's Samsung, has halted operations at its plants in areas affected by rolling power outages. Also, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. and Sumco Corp., which both make silicon wafers needed to produce semiconductors, have temporarily stopped operations because of damage from the earthquake.

Clearly there will also be huge impact on the car industry with Honda, Toyota, and Nissan all having huge manufacturing plants making vehicle parts in North east Japan.

When supply goes down the price goes up, simple economics!

Any flash memory that was available to the market was brought in bulk by Apple, Dell and HP over the weekend leaving the world with massive shortages, hence the increases we are seeing daily in the price of USB’s. It is unlikely to end in a couple of weeks and my gut feeling is that prices have some way to go before they come down again. I would advise clients to buy when they need and to accept the increases, I don’t believe this problem will be going away anytime soon!

Last Friday's earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 10,000 people, while millions remain without power or adequate food. Near-freezing temperatures have forced 450,000 Japanese into shelters. Concerns continue to rise about radiation leakage from Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Despite the Japanese government pumping $183 billion of emergency funds into its economy, the country's stock market has fallen more than 10% in the last two days.

Take some time out of your day and say a prayer for the people of Japan.

Simon

Top Tips for Surviving Challenging Times

So a couple of years ago, HSBC asked if I could give any tips to surviving in the challenging times we were in. I said yes and the video above is the result of the interview they did with me. What I find really interesting about the words I said a couple of years ago is the nothing, and I mean nothing has changed. They all still pass my test of being sound, at least in my mind.

I mean, come on, why would we not manage our cash better. It makes sense, doesn't it? Lets be absolutely clear things have improved, but this country and our people are far from safety yet. The government has mountains to climb in reducing debt, we the people are paying more in stealth tax than ever. Diesel yesterday at £1.3299 per litre. Or in old money.....£6.05 per gallon. Personally I thought extortion was illegal!

Where is it going and where will it end, I have no idea.....but what I do know is that we all need to toughen up and accept the road will not be straight and lovely, there will be some serious deviations along the way......ultimately as the scouts say....Be Prepared!

Brand Merchandise: The Best Advertising Ideas

Is your company still leveraging on newspaper, magazine, radio, Yellow Pages or TV advertisements? No doubt, such advertising media do reach the right target audience and the success of such advertising is well documented through the years. However, the reality today is that people are bombarded with advertisements through these traditional means all the time. Therefore, businesses are looking towards newer and more effective means of reaching out to their existing and potential customers. For instance, with the rising popularity of the online medium and the roaring success of social media platforms, more and more businesses are turning towards promoting their products and services through popular social networks online.

However, if you are looking for advertising ideas that are novel and will definitely create a long-lasting impact on your target audience, you should consider using promotional gifts in the form of brand merchandise. Promotional gifts and giveaways stay with your customers for a long time and work as reminders of your products and services.

Brand Merchandise: For Effective Long-Term Recall
Promotional brand merchandise gifts are the most effective way to arouse interest in customers about your products. The first thing such gifts do is create recognition of your company name, brand and logo in the minds of your potential customers. Moreover, since these gifts are handed over without any charges, the potential buyers are more than ready to accept them.

There are thousands of products that can be given away as advertising specialties. Additionally, there are numerous different branding processes to get your company name and logo printed or embossed on your marketing merchandise. The best part is that you have virtually endless choice for advertising your logo on promotional material.

Using marketing merchandise, companies can come up with innovative ideas and designs to gain an edge over their competitors. Some of the widely used promotional items are key rings, calculators, golf products, puzzles, stationary, watches, mugs, computer accessories – including USB memory sticks, mousemats and countless others, paper weights, caps, torches, pens, umbrellas and many more. Here is a list of product ideas for brand merchandise:

• Some companies hold contests, especially for women, at public places, such as malls. Winners are rewarded with promotional household products, including air fresheners, food items, knives, etc.

• Outdoor and leisure items with the company’s logo printed on them also make excellent marketing merchandise. Such products are used over and over again and keep reminding users about your brand. For instance, a Frisbee makes an interesting gift and is sure to promote you brand to a wider audience as the customer is likely to use it outdoors.

• One of the widely implemented ideas, which is very popular with customers, is promotional clothing. A T-shirt with your company’s slogan and a personalised message saying, such as “Always at your service”, successfully creates a feel good factor about the company. You can also promote a cause that you believe in through such a message. For instance, on World Health Day, you could gift your customers t-shirts printed with your company’s logo and a health-related message.

• Seasonal products, such as Christmas greetings, with a personalised message complimenting the occasion make interesting giveaways.

• Trophies and crystals embossed with the company’s logo can be given away during award functions, conferences and seminars.

• Brand merchandise gifts that are environmentally friendly are sure to win you accolades from buyers and non-buyers alike.

It is important to keep your target audience in mind before deciding on the brand merchandise you want to gift. This is because the product that customers cannot relate to may not strike a chord with them.

The Ipad is affecting my life!

Ok so Apple is taking some heat right now on iPhone 4. A great deal of the heat is directed at Steve Jobs, which i guess is because he is who he is! However, i don't think he has bargained for the grief he is soon to take from Mrs. P, the 4 little P's, colleagues and friends of mine. I have a problem, i am addicted to the iPad, i find myself on it all the time. I could be blogging, reading blogs and tweets, networking, watching Telly,playing games, surfing anything on the iPad. It is without doubt one of the finest things i have ever bought!

This weekend i am up at St Andrews watching The Open, security will take my mobile off me when I enter but not my iPad. I will be blogging, tweeting, watching the Telly, even following on The Open app. Heaven!


The little p's always want to play on it, watch Disney etc and of course paint. Clearly they can't as daddy is on it!

Does anyone know a cure?

Cheers

Simon


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Corporate social responsibility

Ok so here I am on the train back from the city trying to recall the seminar I have sat through this afternoon on CSR and ethics. Personally I think the 2 things are absolutely intertwined and we need to be sure they are both adhered to. It was interesting listening to Tom from Sedex, Martin from ETI delivering content based on our clients demands. Both organisations grow based on the basis of peer pressure, if so and so does it en we nuts also do it. How many of these organisations are doing it from a philanthropic base rather than a what's in it for me base remains to be seen? It is this that concerns me the most because I really do care, but I am being forced to comply with oodles of red tape that is really difficult to understand. Anyone tried to supply goods to LOCOG?(London Olympics 2012) If so you know what I mean! Somewhere along the supply chain must come the sharing of this data to allow more than one company to benefit from the social audit that has been carried out by an independent assessment firm of a particular factory. Rather than all of us doing the same audit over and over again. This is where Sedex really could come into it's own. The cost to industry of compliance is huge and still growing, so come on big business do you really need that extra bit of Social Accountability or will the one carried out a few months ago by another company suffice?

So interestingly in a room of 40 or so people only around 10-12 promotional products distributors were represented. Does that mean that only 0.5% of our industry cares about this topic or is it just those that are being forced to comply that were there? It scares me a little about the cost of these compliance issues, who will pay. Will it be the end user who may be driving down the price of a product whilst asking for more and more compliance and quality. With a 'grown up discussion' it may well be, but this will only be true of certain corporate who really do get the whole 'partnership ethos.'. I guess in reality it will be the distributor who will continue to have their margin eroded to conform to our clients needs.

Listening to both a supplier and distributor ( direct competitor but a really good firm!) give a presentation each on what it means to them, I can see that it is not just me that is fearful about the reasons why we are being asked for so much compliance. This is going to be one hell of a learning curve with many companies doing it differently to one another. Clearly this means that the client will have options, but not necessarily being able to compare 'apples with apples'. As with most things in life there are many companies out there offering different levels of compliance, this is due to the different market forces but ultimately with audits you get what you pay for! So beware of people offering really cheap audits because if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

We must all remember that Social Accountability is not just about child labour there are many other aspects and we at Merchandise Mania check for them all.

I would be really interested to hear back from anyone with experience in this area.

Thanks

Simon





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Why you never wash a rental car?

So on Tuesday I was at my Academy of Chief Executives Group meeting and the speaker was a guy call Mark Fritz. The subject was, 'Why you never wash a rental car.' Immediately my alarm bells went up as I was expecting some kind of brash American telling me what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do to put it right.

Well, that couldn't have been further from the truth. The takeaway value of his session was huge and I think I ranked him the highest speaker I have heard at #ACE.

Why was it so good I hear you ask???......There were so many nuggets to takeaway and I don't mean chicken ones….actual golden ones!

In delegation…….."Deciding what you don't need to know"
Become Outcome focused rather than activity focused - is it important to make 50 cold calls a day or 5 calls and secure 5 appointments. The outcome outweighs the activity. It is all very well being too busy being busy rather than being busy and productive!

Our job as leaders is to create the conditions that enable success, whether it be the processes, the people or the behaviours.

We also spent some time talking about bringing an outcome approach to meetings and to do this what would need to happen. Well he showed us that before we even think about an agenda for that meeting we have to decide what the successful outcome of the meeting would be. This would take place well before setting any kind of agenda. In fact setting the agenda would be at step 6 meaning there are 5 more important things than the agenda in preparing for a meeting!

'Lightbulb' moments were plentiful in this invigorating and educational session and my thanks go out to Mark Fritz for his presentation, and to Brian Chernett for having the belief to book him.

If you want to hear what Mark has to say contact him at mark@markfritzonline.com

Thanks guys!

Best

Simon

Integrity and Morals in Business

So here I am sat at my desk with steam coming out of both my ears.  Why I hear you ask?  I said....Why I hear you ask?  Thank you, do keep up!

A competitor of mine has emailed my entire sales team and most of my management team asking them to go to them and join their 'winning team.'  Now is it just me or is this not the done thing?  It seems to be the kind of thing that lacks any kind of integrity and/or morals.  What makes this even worse was that it was one of industry trade associations that provided the data and technology to send the blast.  There are some cracking companies that we compete against on a daily basis.  They are professional with excellent levels of service and even seem to have integrity.  Unfortunately there are some that are not.  I am sure this is the same throughout most industries.  Now the company that has sent this 'spam' probably thinks
that they have done nothing wrong, after all the mailing list was provided by a trade association.  Even so I just feel it 'stinks'!

There are so many places to find really good team members without directly attacking a competitor.  From Social Networking sites, job sites, recruiters, press, networking.  I am also a huge believer in making an excellent place to work so that the team are happy and talk about it.  Word will spread that such and such is a great place to work and before long, new good members will want to join your team.

I was talking the other day with Mrs P and I think the 4 little P's were in the car with us.  It was a conversation regarding Merchandise Mania and what makes us good at what we do.  I summed it up with the word 'Integrity' 2 of the little P's picked up on the word but could not say it properly.  (oldest little P is 5!) Eventually we agreed that it was a word daddy used at the office a lot and daddy should not talk about the office on daddy days!!(weekends)  So we stopped talking and went to the park!!

Integrity and Morals, Why do we bother?  Answers on a post card or via a comment below!!!!

General Election 2010

So it is finally here, after weeks of hearing about it and having it shoved down our throats the big day is upon us – General Election Day. Is it just me or has the last 4 weeks seemed like months? Politicians everywhere, on every channel at every opportunity. More recently leaflets, posters and literature seem to have infested every nook and cranny of space. It is our most basic democratic right, the right to a free and fair election. We therefore must exercise our right to vote and not miss out on this basic freedom. Many in the world still do not have this right, so we should not see it as a luxury, or an issue, we should, in my opinion, see it as an honour to be able to vote.

Whilst on this seemingly high horse, I also feel the need to commend the 3 main party leaders on the energy they have. I truly am not sure I could have kept up their pace for a few days never mind the last 4 weeks. So is it that I do not have the same energy as them or is it that I channel it in different ways? Of course I would like to think it is the latter with my family, business and local government that I am involved with. The flip is that maybe I just don’t have that energy or drive anymore; I honestly couldn’t say either way as I don’t know. So for now let me leave this paragraph at saluting the 3 main party leaders and the energy and drive they have thrown at the campaign trail.

My team and I here at Merchandise Mania could, and hopefully, have learned a valuable lesson from Nick Clegg in this campaign. It is one of presentation skills, determination, and making the best of your opportunities in front of customers. You see one of the things that can be difficult is getting time with our customers on a face-to-face basis, or even with our potential customers.

However Mr. Clegg has certainly taken his opportunities and run with them, admittedly the other candidates helped him along with the ‘I agree with Nick’ campaign that has run with him in the last few weeks. If and when we succeed in getting in front of customers and prospects we must make use of the time and be very well prepared, just like he was.

Nothing irks me more than a supplier coming into my office and taking up 6-10 of my teams time, often my own time as well, and being ill prepared. They have no agenda, no presentation, just seemingly thinking that they can wing it. Well the wake up call to those who think this is you cant. You are not that good to be able to be ill prepared. You will face tough questions and we expect answers. If you fail, we lose respect and you lose orders.

We have to understand as professional sales people that the same is true for us. Be prepared or fail. It really is that simple. I never expect our clients to sit through a face to face with me when I am waffling or talking drivel I fully expect & actually want them to say to me that the meeting is over as I am wasting their time. This is what I want to get over to my team at Merchandise Mania and our partners, our customers may not want to say it but we need to know it!


Oh and lets not forget there is that General Election 'thing' happening today in the UK so exercise the right, 'Go and Vote'. (PLEASE)

Leaders Debate, Part 2

So I am sat here watching the Leaders Debate, Part 2 with the lovely Mrs P sat besides me, the 4 little P's are all sleeping and I am now trying to work out what type of leader these guys are. So we are 45 minutes in and I now have the answer, it doesn't matter! Yes that's right, it does not matter what type of leader these guys who could be Prime Minister in a few weeks. Why I hear you shout.........These guys may be leading the country, may be Prime Minister but it is not going to affect me as I am not close enough to experience their leadership. However it will make a huge difference to the team in my organisation as to what type of leader I am. This is because that team is constantly influenced by my actions. Sometimes they are influenced by my mood, attire, and certainly by my decisions. I have to remind myself regularly that how I do things is almost as important as what I do! I accept the fact that I am not always great at practising what I am talking about here, but I still stand a good chance of improving.

Who is an inspirational leader? Cameron, Clegg, Brown....... Lets be clear on something, it is not a case of 'I agree with Nick.' I am more worried about taxation, the economy, jobs, defence, the NHS and especially education which is incredibly close to my heart.

Who does inspire......we all do......and we must not forget it.....

How do I juggle family and business?

I am blessed with 4 stunning boys, 5, 4, 2 years and 10 weeks!  I have an amazing wife, a business that is successful in its field, I am involved in local politics as a Borough Councillor and unsurprisingly I have little time to think!  Thinking is a key skill and a core need of any business.  There are times we are too busy to think or strategise and we think everything is ok but inevitably something comes up and bites us in the bum because we have not seen it coming or planned for the eventuality.

Now of course we cannot plan for every eventuality, but we can take time to think through situations and strategy.  This is the part I struggle with.  Not because I lack creativity or skill, simply I lack the time to put into practice that which I preach.  Most of the creative thinking I have had in the last 10 weeks has come to me when I am feeding the little one somewhere around 3 am.  It is crazy how much I do think at that time, why?  Simply because I have time!  For 1 hour each and every night, somewhere between 2 and 3am my son wakes up wanting a bottle and I have time with myself…well with Louie as well, but he is very good and tries not to interrupt my thought process!! So am I really too busy being busy to realise what I should be doing, or just too pig headed to do something about it.  Truthfully I am not sure, when I find out I am sure I will blog about it!

I think the overwhelming message is that I need to find some time each day for myself, to think about whatever it is that needs to be thought about or just to allow thoughts the time to come to me…..you should try it, I know I am and you never know it may actually work!!!

Best

Simon

AntiBac Pen

So for the new financial year we have the latest, smartest, healthiest, antibacterial pen available on the market.  Ok, lets be clear it is the only anti-bac pen that is certified to British Standards.  Why does this matter I hear you cry?  It matters because I am constantly being asked what is new, innovative, funky in our market place.  This product is all 3 and more, it really does some good....  I know, I know, it is unlike me to become animated over a pen....but cmon this is really clever!

If you want to see it, try it, use it or even order it let me know on the number below.  As always comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.

 

Merchandise Mania - Distributor of the Year 2010

Promota Distributor
of the Year 2010

Merchandise Mania are proud to be an award winning company. We’ve been repeatedly recognised amongst numerous industry bodies as their Distributor of the Year and as we celebrate our tenth anniversary, we’re delighted to announce that we have received yet another prestigious accolade.

Promota is the trade association to the promotional merchandise industry. They’re responsible for ensuring that the people you choose to work with follow a respected set of guidelines and offer best business practice. Voted for by manufacturers and importers from throughout the UK, Merchandise Mania have once again been awarded Distributor of the Year for London and Eastern 2010.

It’s an award of which we’re immensely proud, and we’d like to thank all of you for help making it possible.

Contact us with your requirements or to arrange a no obligation meeting with one of our representatives.

Merchandise Mania Ltd - Merchandise House - 6 Elstree Way - Borehamwood - Herts - WD6 1RN
Tel: 0845 202 2388 - Fax: 0845 202 2389

Jennifer Showing the Takeaway Mug

It is great to hear such enthusiasm from Jennifer over a mug, in fact lets be clear from anyone it is great to hear enthusiasm!  I have to say though in its defence, it is the only mug for me.  I love it and use it many times per day to keep my tea piping hot! Try it you might like it!!

We have loads of them in our showroom for you to see.  Remember also that for the whole of March we have 'a flipping great deal'.  That is to say for spending £2500.00 or over we will give you a Flip Cam absolutely free just to say thanks!  The Flip Cam is one of my favourite gadgets and those of you who know me will understand why.  A quality piece of kit.  So what are you waiting for????


simon@merchandisemania.co.uk

Social Networking - Am I a Fan?

So yesterday I was with my Academy of chief Executives group ACE 2 at the Holiday Inn in Elstree. Our Morning speaker was a chap called Mike Nevin whose company, Alliance Best Practice does what it says on the tin. Looks at the best ways of bringing a team together to deliver a project in the most cost effective way whilst probably increasing the available skills by working with all types of Partners to make it happen! Very Interesting I thought! Fortunately the talk was not about this, but about the phenomenon of Online Networking. Interestingly about 95% of the room yesterday had some kind of profile on LinkedIn, about 95% of them used the free model and did not have a complete profile including myself. However having listened intently to Mike for a few hours I can see major benefits in putting myself and my company out there and using online business networking to increase exposure and perhaps help to further support our clients. I used to belong ot a group called BNI or Business Network International and there motto was 'Givers Gain'. That is, 'that I I give you business, you will want to give me business.' There is a lot to be said for this especially in a tougher economic climate than most of us are used to. It is important to note that selling on price alone is a recipe for disaster so being able to 'add value' to the proposition is what it is all about at Merchandise Mania. It seems like after yesterday one of the ways in which we can add value is by networking efficiently with our customers and prospects.

I know my next job is ensuring my profile on LinkedIn is complete!!!!

Doom and Gloom or the Green Shoots of Recovery???

It is increasingly obvious to me that whilst we are incredibly capable of talking ourselves into situations we do not seem to be capable of talking our way out of the same situation. Clearly I am talking about the 'Recession' oh no I said it out loud....the 'Recession'........I said it again. I think it is a sorry state of affairs that even when we are clearly still in a downturn that the press seem incapable of giving us the lift and positive headlines that will help restore the confidence that they ripped from us.

That said, is this the fault of the press? No, of course not. I do feel that they have a responsibility to balance the arguments rather than heavily stack it one way or another.

On a really positive note, we at Merchandise Mania have been able to help our clients budget go further. Even more positively is the fact that activity is well up in the months of July and August so far, this coupled with positive news from the banks and the $$$ weakening to Sterling will definitely help.

Lets hope so anyway.


Simon

How can I motivate, when all around the news is glum?

Focus, Focus, Focus!!!!

Just because Honda are stopping production for 4 months or this one is shedding this many jobs or that one is closing its factory, does not mean that there is not also good news mixed in with the bad. Why only today Subway announced it was opening a further 600 stores in the UK & Eire creating 7000 jobs. There are still many opportunities in times of recession and even more importantly we have to motivate our teams to go after those opportunities and grasp both hands around them when we find them.

Motivation should not be hard in a climate such as the UK today, but surprisingly it is very difficult. You would think people were thankful to still be in a job and that they would work even harder to ensure that it stayed that way. Human nature does not work like that and unfortunately the bad news is impossible to avoid and no matter who you are, I believe, it has to have a detrimental effect on morale.

I guess as a business leader it is my role to inspire my team to achieve, to invigorate where energy wanes and to coach where the need arises. Is it enough? Most of the time, yes it is but in these strange times I am not sure. I think more is needed and that is the motivation.

One way businesses can motivate is cash. Cash bonuses are real, tangible and effective some of the time.

Another is product bonuses. This could be points with prizes, length of service awards, employee of the month etc. It is generally felt that these type of prizes have an increased perceived value compared to the relative cash bonuses. Only when a cash bonus becomes substantial does the cash seem more!

Is now a good time to introduce a motivation programme? Absolutely! Why? It is widely felt that it is harder to motivate in a difficult climate than when things are good. Motivation can increase sales and of that there can be no doubt. So many Sales People tell me they are self motivated and driven individuals, they probably are most of the time but even the best need a nudge in the right direction from time to time.

So there is no better time to look at a programme for your employees to help and maintain motivation, we at Merchandise Mania can clearly help with that. This is the shameless plug part!!!!!

Until next time……..

Some Credit Crunch Tips For Business!

So I was minding my own business. Well actually trying to manage my own business when I received a mail from my Bank Relationship Manager asking if I could help her out. Imagine my surprise, it is most definitely me asking the Bank for help not the other way round! Needless to say I decided to do what was being asked of me and there are 2 versions in this blog. The first is the full article from HSBC and the second is the edited version of just little old me!!!!

I hope it helps someone!!!

Just Little Ole Me!!

Simple Economics

The Stock Market is in freefall, Consumer Confidence is low, House Prices are falling, Inflation rising, Marketing Budgets are being cut………..

Now tell me the odd one out?

Yep you guessed it, Marketing Budgets being cut. In an Economic downturn one of the first budgets to be cut (after Overtime) is marketing. Now has anyone spotted the mistake here? That’s right, if we want to increase market share, sales and ultimately profits we need to actually market ourselves more in a downturn thereby strengthening our position against that of our competitors who are not marketing themselves effectively. Perhaps we should look at the tangible side of marketing such as promotional merchandise, this way we can clearly see who we are strategically targeting. Of course a further alternative is to utilise a Gift with Order or an On Pack offer, this is where you up sell using the promotional merchandise as a ‘carrot’. There are many ways of ‘skinning a cat’ and we can go into greater detail or discussion if you wish to contact me directly on email simon@merchandisemania.co.uk.

The second part to this instalment is about budgeting. Now I don’t want to patronise anyone with this next statement, but effective budgeting is the one of the important key skills of the business world. I say skill, because the way finance teams are cutting budgets each of us is going from ‘Tesco Finest’ to ‘Tesco Value’ in terms of our marketing spend. How can we make the £££’s go further? If we liken the Tesco Products to Promotional Merchandise, there are many ways of making those £££’s go further. What we need from you are the number! The number of items you would like and the number you have in your budget to pay for it? Once we have this we should be able to come up with many different ideas and ways of using your numbers to satisfy your needs. Give us a challenge; I am sure we will come through for you!

Remember, the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

The First day of the rest of your life!!!

So there I was reading through a colleagues blog earlier today (http://paulsmania.blogspot.com/) when I found myself thinking, 'You know what Simon, you should really do one of those!' Then the panic, and the self doubt. What will I say, how will it sound, will anyone actually read it. After careful consideration I decided that none of that mattered and as part of my ongoing learning I would jump right into it.

So what the heck is all this about I here you ask, well simply put I will be imparting my, possibly useless, knowledge in the blog. Along with my business experiences, even down to the simple don’t try this at home type of thing. It pains me to say so, but I have made many, many mistakes in my life. Some have definitely been larger than others. My philosophy is that your gut is usually right, unless of course you had a serious curry the night before, so trust it and act quickly. If you don’t act, someone else will. This works in good times as well as in bad. An example within Merchandise Mania would be my missus, Lisa, coming up with the idea for Recycled Mania. This was specifically to provide services that were only available in a limited way from other companies. What it meant to our customers was that they could find leading edge environmentally friendly products from us, a good six months before the general market could get close. We were manufacturing fleece made from 22 plastic water bottles before 90% of the High Street stores. Of course the important thing from this for our customers was that they were way ahead of their competition in terms of creativity, and ethical accountability……Priceless!

Ok, so I guess the first one is at an end….keep checking back and lets see if we can learn together.