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 ...the monthly newsletter for buyers and users of promotional products, logoed apparel, corporate logoed products and corporate gifts.
 

 

November 2009
Welcome to Next Level Promotions  
Greetings!

Take our poll: November's Poll 
 
Click the link to take the poll... This month's question: What's your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? 
This is a non-scientific poll designed to give you a snap shot of what other people are thinking.
We were recently published on the Law Marketing Portal, Larry Bodine's on-line resource for legal marketers:

Our topic was corporate holiday gift giving and we talked about how to survive what can be a very trying experience.
 
Here are some questions to answer that will help you tackle the task:
  • Give the same gift to everyone, or do tier gifting where you have gifts of varying cost to reflect the recipient's value?
  • Put your logo on the gift? My recommendation is no, or very subtly. It's a gift not a commercial.
  • Have each gift individually drop shipped with a gift card enclosed? Or handle it all in-house?
  • What's your company's culture? Can you give something whimsical?
  • What's your budget? Give your vendor(s) a price range per person or your total budget for however many people you need to cover.
  • And remember - UPS and FedEx will not guarantee delivery by the holidays after mid December.

We identify four major areas for corporate holiday gifting: food, gadgets and cool stuff, travel amenities and life style.

In the food area you can check out our new venture Doubly Gifted where 10% of the sale price of food, wine, and spa baskets goes to the charity of your choice. One action gets two good results.
 
You can read the entire article and see pictures of all our suggestions at:  Corporate Holiday Gift Giving - Survival Guide 

You'll find more helpful tips and lots of specific gift suggestions along with images and pricing.
 
 
 
? Did you know...
 
Artwork and time are the two major factors that derail a successful promotional product campaign.
 
First, artwork. All suppliers/manufacturers of promotional products are going to need your logo in what is called "vectored art." Usually this is your logo created in Illustrator and saved with an 'eps' file extension.
 
So what is vectored art? Probably the best thing is to compare it to an image format we're all pretty much familiar with, a jpg image. A jpg image is a low resolution image suitable for the web or for e-mailing. If you enlarge it enough you'll see the edges become jagged or "pixilated."  That happens because the image is made up of many little squares, or pixels. What you're seeing are the edges of these squares when you enlarge the image.
 
Vectored art is created with a graphics program that has curves instead of pixels. When you enlarge an 'eps' image the edges will remain smooth. You can enlarge, shrink, whatever and the image remains intact and in proportion. It is a high resolution image that can be used to decorate your items. (Note, you can't take a 'jpg' image and save it as an 'eps' image...that doesn't take away the pixels.)
 
So, have your logo created as vectored art. If you don't have a graphics person you can find them on the web. We like LogoCleanup.
 
Another hint, if your logo is very long (horizontal) have an alternate version ready. There will be products where the imprint area won't be long enough to accommodate a long logo. It's better to have this discussion and create an alternate version of your logo sooner rather than when you're confronted with the problem.
 
Time. Albert Einstein said that the only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen all at once. It seems that time often disappears when you're working on a promotional product project.  
 
A good rule of thumb is to submit your order a month before you actually need it. Allow 2-4 working days to get back your proof (always ask for a proof), then allow 10-15 working days for production. Add to that the shipping. It's a 6 day ship from the west coast where many of the suppliers are located.
 
Most suppliers can do a Rush Order, but you'll pay more.
 
Now, don't you feel smarter?
Issue: 4
In This Issue
Corporate Holiday Gift Giving - A Survival Guide
Did You Know...?
Last month's poll results

Last Month's Poll Results 
 
Last month we asked you about how you use Linkedin.
 
The results? As of this time we've had no responses to the poll. We asked if you used Linkedin as a vehicle to market your company's products and services.
We'd still like to hear from you on this subject so drop us an e-mail at [email protected]
 
 
Robert Rebholz
Next Level Promotions LLC
781-933-4660
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