Among various marketing methods, advertisements are often used by medium and large companies to strengthen their brands and build long-term sales, with several months or several years to see any substantial result, whereas promotional products focus more on short-term results.
With the company logo, slogan and even inspiring words printed on the surface, promotional products are given away to consumers, employees, or corporate customers at a much lower cost. So, promotion and promotional products are more suitable for small companies. And large companies also set up their promotional activities for cost-effective and short-term effects.
Generally, promotional products are powerful to increase the company’s brand awareness, improve customer ties, and bring gratefulness to your employees. This is what promotional items are for! As long as there is business, there is a place for promotional items!
“Yes, I know all these, mate.”Some newbies may say, “But I don’t know how do I start my business in this field at ground zero?”
Well, I am sure the following suggestions might be useful for your question. In fact, it is some insight from my working experience in the promotional product field for 16 years.
#1, Who can succeed in the promotional products industry?
Before starting your promotional items business, just try to think out of the box, and answer this question: what kind of people can succeed in the promotional items industry?
Let me take T-shirts, the most common type, for example. Generally, the salesman will highlight the merits of their products when presenting them to their customers. They will claim that the T-shirt is made of pure cotton and has very good air permeability, and can be printed with any design or logo that you wish, and most importantly, offering a 55% discount for orders exceeding 100 pieces. I reckon 80% of the salespeople may work this way to win their orders. However, unfortunately, they probably won’t get it. I dare to say that, 80% of the time, the business isn’t going to conclude with this sales skill.
Something is missed, pal! You know the customer wants to buy T-shirts. However, you dismiss the reason why he wants to buy them! That is what matters most! There is a common saying I learn from my career: don’t sell things to customers, but buy with them!
In most cases, buyers and sellers think differently about their respective aims. The sellers may think of the quality and the attractive discounts they can offer to impress customers to secure an order. The customers, undoubtedly, will listen and take these into consideration. But most importantly, their foundational concern is: can this product solve my problem, or can it work out for my pressing situation? Only by understanding the customer’s actual demands and solving them, can we impress the buyers and get the upper hand.
Back to what we just left, suppose the customer is holding a small concert on the beach at night to promote their new products. He is buying several types of promotional items, including T-shirts. Then, the product presentation I just mentioned can’t impress him. On the contrary, if you can get to the point, oh, at night, then you introduce him to a luminous T-shirt with the logo shining at night. And, at the same time, you can also recommend a series of other products, such as glow sticks, paper cups with luminous patterns for outdoor drinks, and so on. It is a high chance that he gets impressed with the solutions you provide. Even if he doesn’t buy your product, he will buy you for your being different and capable of solving problems for him!
So, back to my question at the beginning, what kind of person can succeed in the promotional products industry? It is he who doesn’t sell but buys with his customers!
Additionally, if you really plan to start your promotional business with T-shirts, my article, How to Customize T-shirts for Promotional Events, may be helpful to you! Just click the following link:
#2, Which promotional items can make a difference?
With dozens of categories and hundreds of types of promotional items, it would be difficult for you to make a success with the nice items you have ever met. Therefore, you’d better concentrate all your resources, and choose one or one kind of product to work on.
When you focus on selling this product for a long time, your expertise in this field will win the respect of more customers, possibly with more opportunities for new products. This is what we usually call “exploring the business range.”
“Stay focused on one, yes, I know! ” You might shout, “But, I still have no idea what to do!”
Well, actually, I once got confused and turned to my product manager Tony for advice. This guy pondered for a while and then told me his story and suggestion which I feel very down-to-earth!
2-1. Take advantage of what you are having
“I just do what the others do, going to high school, and then college, and then working in a small firm for a couple of years, getting bored. Then I started my own business in the promotional products field. ” He added, “There is always some moment in life that triggers your business inspiration, just think it over, and follow your instinct.”
Then one day, an idea popped up in my mind! ” Alex! My cousin’s boyfriend. ” I cried out. He is running a bicycle shop and makes a small profit from the scooter sales, which is getting very popular in his urban area.
“Why not start here? ” I said to myself. I can ask Alex questions like who the customers are and who usually buys bicycles from him. Do they have other additional needs besides bicycles, such as sports towels, bicycle LED lights, and sports kettles? These products are getting popular with lovers of outdoor games. I can even try to work with Alex. For example, if people buy a bicycle for $300, they will get a free LED lamp or kettle. This is a good start, and no cycling goers will refuse these accessories.
That is just how I got my idea from what I was having. And you surely will get yours. Just relax, and imagine.
2-2. Follow your interests
We all know that interest is the best teacher, and this also works in business. If you are really interested in a product, for example, as a lover of electronic consumer goods, you can start with electronic consumer goods in your business. In fact, it is a very hot and profitable category in the promotion field, including mobile phone cases, charging treasures, earphones, mobile phone stands,s and so on.
“Well, that sounds nice!” You may reply. “However, I don’t have much relevance in past experiences, and frankly speaking, I just want to import some promotional items from China to make money. If you just tell me directly which promotional items are the best to sell, and even give me some safe and sound schemes, that would be great!”
Sure! That’s no problem, all you need to do is to write to us at sales@plentmax.com.
#3. Keep an eye on the promotional products market
“How can I get focused? ” You may still have a doubt.
Well, just do what you are doing right with your mobile phone or computer. They are the tools to gather resources. Keep an eye on information for promotional products, and use SNS platforms, such as YouTube, Twitter, Ins, Facebook, Tiktok, etc. And also pay attention to articles or videos of famous bloggers, from which many best-seller products get viral overnight, and become pretty hot in the market.
Remember the fingertip gyro in 2017? One of our French clients happened to catch this frenzy and made a handsome income from it in three months.
So, pay attention to the market and products. Once you perceive that something is going to get hot, just go all for it! This may be your golden opportunity!
And, if you still have questions on how to judge the market trend of a promotional item, the following article will show you the common methods that we use to distinguish the market trends by using Google and other SNS data.
#4. How to find a right supplier to source from?
Most promotional companies choose to import from China or other Asian countries because of the rich industrial chains there. However, if you are a newcomer in the field, and your first order is as small as less than 100pcs, I would suggest that you purchase from local importers or distributors.
Although the purchase price will be a little more expensive than those directly imported from China, you can get access to all the promotional items in the showroom, feel them with your touch and learn something professional from the sales staff there. It is safe to get yourself acquainted with what you are selling.
Of course, if you are keen on promotional items and aim high, you will surely be involved in importing business from China eventually. The following article, Chinese Promotional Products Industrial Clusters, may be worth reading for your knowledge.
If you want to know more about this industry and the details of how to outsource from China, please feel free to contact us, we are happy to add value, even if we never work together.
#5. To Whom should I sell the promotional items?
This sounds like a very silly question. If I am an importer, of course, I will sell to the distributors; If I am a distributor, I sell to the wholesalers or retailers; If I were a retailer, I definitely sell to the end customers.
This logic can be right, but not so right in the present information explosion era when the roles in the traditional supply chain have become rather vague. It is a chance that the importers also sell to the end customers after importing them from China. And the distributors or wholesalers might start their business importing promotional items from China, without any importers.
Therefore, just go with the flow. Be flexible with the business mode.
#6. Story of business starting with $700
If you are still confused about how to start your business, don’t worry, I have searched and found an interesting story about importing from China, which might be inspiring.
A Canadian buddy imported 100 pairs of gaming glasses from China, with US$ 700 as the start-up fund. It took him 39 days, but bought him a net profit of $344.52, and left with a stock of 39 pairs of glasses, totaling $1500 as project profit. You can click the following link for more of the story.
By the way, this article is quoted from shopify.com, which appears to be really a good choice if you need a website to initially display your products. We have helped our customers establish their websites and promote their products through Shopify.
“What? Aren’t you an exporter of promotional items in China?” You may wonder. “How come you also help customers with their websites?
Of course, what you hear is right. This is what distinguishes us from other promotional items suppliers, and we are doing what we are good at.
#7. Conclusion
If you set up your mind to start something for your career, just do it now!
Surely, it is not an easy task and I’ve learned it myself.
With all the difficulties and frustrations you may encounter, you might feel tired, and haunted by the gloomy thought of giving up. I suggest you watch the following advertisement film from Gopro. It is inspiring and exciting.
Finally, good luck! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at sales@plentmax.com, we are happy to share our expertise, even if we have never met.