Just after Thanksgiving I do a Calendar mailing to customers and prospects, this year is no different.  The mailing is set to go out the first week of December.

I had about 30 Calendars left over – so I wanted to give the first 30 people who respond to this blog post a chance to claim one of them this year.

Just plug in your mailing address and I’ll send you this great 2009 Full Color Custom Calendar featuring a different motivational message each month.  The Calendar actually starts December 2008 so you can start using it right away.

Click Here To Claim Your Free Calendar While They Last.

Tim Somers
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.

When reviewing Google Analytics I found that someone had landed on my site using the keyword phrase “Promotional Products For Lawyers” this got my curiosity up so I jumped on a Keyword Tool I use called Wordtracker to see just how many people are using this phrase everyday.

The results came back estimating 14 searches – which is not really that great, also in the mix was two related phases “Promotional Products For Law Firms” and “Promotional Products For Attorneys” both of these also with 14 searches.  So between these three long tail phases I am looking at generating 42 additional visitors just by ranking on the first page of Google for them – that’s free traffic.

In doing a bit more research on this quest for the almighty first page, I Googled these phrases to see how competitive they are (how many competitor pages come up when conducting a search).

• Promotional Products For Lawyers - 478,000 result pages
  Promotional Products For Law Firms -  364,000 result pages
  Promotional Products For Attorneys -  919,000 result pages

Due to the low estimated searches I found there are not many pages competing for these keyword phrases.  In reviewing the listings on the first page of Google I found the top ranking sites to be of low quality without many backlinks.

All these factors will make it pretty easy to get on the first page of Google in my opinion.

I am turning to the techniques I learned from being a long time user of a great product called SEO Elite.  I estimate I can be on the first page of Google for all three of these phrases in less than 30 days.

Stay tuned for future posts on the progress of this challenge.

THE RESULTS ARE IN

Tim Somers
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.

When choosing custom printed promo items you want to choose an item that will hang around and expose your business often, daily if possible.

A Magnetic Memo Holder Clip fits that description.  These clips are quality constructed with a heavy duty spring action that includes a strong magnet on the back.

Item Colors: Translucent Blue; Translucent Purple; Translucent Red; White.

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(a $40 Savings).

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Check out the MCM Memo Clip and place your order now!

Tim Somers
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.

As a member of the Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI), the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, I am able to access over 3,500 vendors with over 750,000 Promotional Products to offer our customers.  An exciting study was revealed today that advertising specialties beat out all forms of TV, radio and print advertising as the most cost-effective advertising medium available. 

The wide-ranging study was completed by a team of interviewers who surveyed travelers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia*.  Respondents were asked if they had received any advertising specialties in the last 12 months and the majority were businesspeople over age 21.

Here is an overview of the findings:

• 84% of people remember the advertiser on a product they receive.
• 42% have a more favorable impression of an advertiser after receiving an advertising specialty.
• Nearly one quarter, or 24%, indicated that they are more likely to do business with an advertiser on items they receive.
• Most respondents (62%) have done business with the advertiser on a product after receiving it.
• Writing instruments are the most commonly-owned advertising specialty, with 54% of respondents owning them, followed by shirts, caps and bags.
• The majority (81%) of promotional products were kept because they were considered useful.
• More than three-quarters of respondents have had their items for about seven months.
• Among wearables, tote bags were reported to be used most frequently, with respondents indicating that they use their tote bags on average nine times per month.
• Bags deliver the most impressions, with 1,038 impressions per month on average.
• The average cost-per-impression of an advertising specialty item is $0.004, making it less expensive per impression than nearly any other media.  (According to Nielsen Media data, the CPI for a national magazine ad is $0.033; a newspaper ad is $0.0129; a prime time TV ad is $0.019; a cable TV ad is $0.007; a syndicated TV ad is $0.006; and a spot radio ad is $0.005).

These statistics conclude that marketers get a more favorable return on investment from advertising specialties than almost any other popular media, with a very low cost-per-impression, high recall among those who receive ad specialty items, and increased intent among recipients to make purchases from the advertiser.  

“During a time when we’re facing turbulent economic conditions, this research advises marketers and business owners to invest in advertising specialties now more than ever,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of the Advertising Specialty Institute.  “Advertising specialties provide measurable results for a very reasonable investment.” 

“Distributors and suppliers should use these results to educate their customers, prospects and end-buyers about the power of advertising specialties and how they increase sales and brand exposure,” Andrews continued.  “Ad specialties are essentially gifts that break through the information clutter, reach consumers on a personal level, and provide real impact in a creative way.”

Advertising specialties, or promotional products, are items branded with a corporate logo or message that are used as an incentive, a gift or as part of an advertising campaign; and the industry comprises a 13% share of the advertising marketplace, with $19.6 billion in sales for 2007. 

For all results of the Advertising Specialties Effectiveness Study from ASI, visit www.asicentral.com/study.  For more information, contact Larry Basinait, executive director of research for ASI, lbasinait@asicentral.com.

About ASI
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 22,000 ASI distributor firms.  Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers.  ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.

*  Methodology – A web-based survey was also used to augment segments of in-person interviews, resulting in a total sample of over 600 respondents.

Tim Somers
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.
Proud Member of the Advertising Specialty Institute®
ASI #140684

I am fairly new to the whole Social Networking gig, and have found sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to be great avenues to reconnect with old customers and keep in touch with new customers and prospects alike. I have been joining various groups and posting on their discussion boards and making connections with members of these groups over the past few months.

But I’ve been doing it all wrong!

Being so excited to connect with people, a lot of people; I lost focus on the networking skills I have developed over the last 19 years while being in the Promotional Products industry.  Attending local networking events offers personal contact, one on one, face to face dialog with people,   I always listen to the people I met and talk very little about me and my business.  This is basic networking 101 and I have build some great friendships that have lead to a ton of business and referrals that have been priceless.

I didn’t realize I was becoming a borderline Social Networking Spammer until I received some harsh to the point words of wisdom from a Social Networking Professional.

If you are going to use Social Networking as an avenue to network and connect with others you really need to take the following message to heart.  It opened my eyes and I will be a better online networker because of it.

This is the reply that I received after blasting off a message and posting all about me.

Tim,  please take this as feedback not criticism…

There are million pages indexed in Google for what you are offering and each page means nothing to me. Why do you think your pages are any different? Is it because you and I are in the same Facebook group?

When I need a solution for what you have to offer I will turn to the network of people I like, trust and have built a relationship with to find it.

Likewise, I listen to people I like and trust so they are able to convince me I may need a service such as yours.  I would only ever consider doing business with someone I really know and have built a relationship with.

That said, if the desired outcome of you introducing yourself to me is to have me buy from you, do business with you or in fact collaborate with you on any level your strategy is counter productive since at this point we do not know each other nor has anyone in my network referred me to you.

I will never listen to anyone who tells me they are interested in building a relationship with me then follows this statement with a self serving links all about them, their product or service.

That’s not social networking. It’s spamming and to think people of that caliber that have congregated in any social network see it any other way is miss-guided.

My point is, I am always open to meeting new people, new business relationships and opportunities. What frustrates me is that neither will be achieved by two people coming together to promote themselves.

Rather than ignore approaches like that I offer my un-filtered, heart felt feedback in reply.

Some people thank me for telling them the way I feel and we start over again, all of whom are now trusted connections, who I do like and listen to…they don’t even realize they do it…Others say f&$#k you then, I don’t hear from them again.

I hope you’re not one of them…

Can I suggest you have another pass introducing yourself with a focus on a desired outcome of you being “”Interested”, not “interesting”.

Tim Somers (aka x social networking spammer)
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.