A major segment of the promotional marketing business is apparel, and along with jackets, caps, scarves, golf shirts and sweatpants hangs that mainstay of promotional garments — the venerable cotton t-shirt.

As an ASI (Advertising Specialty Institute)  Distributor, T&T Advertising (division of T&T Designs) has just received notification from 2 major national suppliers of blank apparel to the promotional and decorating industry of 7-10% price increases. These increases are coming from most of the major mills (Anvil, Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Gildan, Jerzeez) and will take place immediately. Given the uniformity of these increases, I think it’s safe to say that the impact will be felt throughout the garment industry in turn.

Several posts at the blog, The Cotton Boll Conspiracy, provide information and figures on the state of domestic and international cotton production, if you’re interested in why this is happening.

One nice feature of the issue is a recap of marketing tips and ideas that were generated at a BATC marketing panel discussion back in July (pg. 14). Todd Hollingsworth of T&T Designs, Inc. was a member of that panel, and many good, practical marketing ideas were exchanged.

Also from T&T is a feature article on promotional marketing (pg. 16). This aspect of a sound marketing program is often trivialized or ignored outright, but the facts prove it to be one of the most effective ways to spend advertising dollars, as the article points out. T&T’s new ASI division, T&T Advertising, is built on 20 years of experience in that industry that includes promotional products, premiums and corporate awards.

There are other good feature articles and extras on marketing in this issue as well, including the value of networking and a positive snapshot of our housing market. We’re proud to be contributors to the Builders’ Digest, to BATC, and to the Twin Cities strong and diverse builder community.

T&T Designs is proud to be participating on the panel as one of the Marketing Marvels. As an Associate member of BATC in the area of Advertising & Marketing, T&T Designs has long supported builders in their efforts to create effective marketing materials, ads and websites to get their message out; and over the past year supported the organization as contributors to BATC’s quarterly publication, Builders Digest (see pg. 14 in the most recent edition) with informative articles.

This really is a good opportunity to pick up some marketing tips and ask your most pressing marketing questions of this knowledgeable panel. Go to BATC’s website to register, bring your note pad, and we’ll see you there.

When you’re selling the “American Dream” do you know who’s doing the dreaming, and what their dream actually looks like?

Purpose is the only thing in marketing that remains the same. Strategy and technique?… not so much. They evolve over time. They chase group movement and tendencies, and identify and exploit new and emerging technologies. Successful marketing connects with people in ways, and at times and in places, that they are most available and receptive to the message. This is not a static point but moves around.

To reach your customers with your marketing message you have to go where they are. Once upon a time that was gathered around the TV set en masse, at 8:00 every night. Easy to find and easy to communicate with. No longer. Here’s a snapshot of the cohort currently moving into and through the market. How will you reach them today?

“Generation X” is comprised of all people born between (roughly) 1963 and 1978. Today, these people are in their mid 30’s to mid 40’s. Acknowledging broad strokes and generalizations, here are some generational X notes.

• they grew up in a dual income family, changed by divorce; went to daycare; learned to be independent
• they are the most ethnically diverse generation of any that has come before
• the “isms” of prejudice (racism, sexism, ageism) are almost a foreign concept
• they’re not jaded to marketing, just savvy … and impatient

In making a purchase Gen-X recognizes value, seeks it out, and takes pride in the ability to find it on their own. Finding it includes research and detail. Show a Gen-X buyer exactly what you have to offer with facts, in digestible detail, and they will make their own decision.

“Generation Y” also referred to as the Millennial Generation or Generation Next (born roughly mid 1970’s to late 1990’s) follows X and represents an equally strong home buyer market, especially as first time home buyers. Gen-Y tends to be realistically optimistic about the future. They will pay more to be closer to their work and they seek out alternative transportation. From a spring 2009 study by The Concord Group of Newport Beach, CA, here are some numbers:

• 50% say they are likely to purchase a home within the next three years
• 50% say tax credits or lower interest rates would motivate them to purchase a residence sooner.
• 70% believe home prices will be higher or at today’s levels in two years.
• 62% say wealth creation is a very big advantage of real estate ownership.

Instant communication and social networking are just a part of everyday life for this generation … always have been. Gen-Y spends about 3.5 hours a day online. They also stay in touch with their parents. Interesting.

Both of these groups have been inundated with advertising almost from birth. They recognize it and know it, and they can smell the proverbial smoke and mirrors B.S. from a mile away. My best advice on marketing to Gen-X and Gen-Y: locate them where they are (they are very social, both online and out in the world) and give them an honest reason to make their well-reasoned decision in your favor.

Congratulations!

For the sake of this discussion I’m going to suggest three (3) approaches to purchasing, or to a client/vendor relationship if you will:

1. price at all cost
2. love me, use me
3. price for performance

1. I’ve known purchasing agents who measure their self-worth by the nickels they can squeeze out of their vendors. The most venal of these may play vendors one against the other until one cries “uncle” and decides that the business isn’t worth winning. The more “professional” squeezer will simply foster a reputation for requiring low-balling, and routinely reinforce that reputation.

THE RESULT: You get what you pay for. No vendor can afford to give more than is being paid for, so something suffers. The best vendors won’t even bid on this kind of business. Others will work in a manner that makes the reduced margin at least somewhat profitable, and so the purchaser gets something less than he thought he paid for..

2. This one is silly, right? Well, yes it is, but human nature being what it is there can be an element of this in some business relationships. Most often it’s based on a purchaser’s love of the vendor’s annual golf outing or fishing tournament or Vikings tickets. He’ll buy whatever’s being sold and the vendor, knowing this, will have a hard time not pressing that advantage.

THE RESULT: The business is unavoidably taken for granted by the vendor, and the client is unavoidably taken advantage of.

3. Of course, this is the preferred professional relationship. Price for performance. This is the gold standard — a vendor who treats you fairly, works on your behalf, executes your needs, and contributes to your success.

When you have a “Class 3″ vendor you have a golden relationship. Due diligence dictates that the relationship be verified from time to time, but when weighing in the value-added service of this vendor the verdict is always “high value.”

A Class 3 vendor will know your business and will work with you when budgets are tight. If you don’t think so, just ask him. That’s right … ask.

And that’s the point of this post. If in times of strife or tight budgets you don’t have a vendor who will work with you, you should shop around. You need a vendor you can honestly talk to and discuss the needs and limits of your project. After all, we’re all in this together.

Do you want a deal? Do you need a break? Just ask.

That’s really the trick, isn’t it — getting your ad read? Whether in print, online, or on a billboard on the side of the road, you need to stop the reader and grab their attention. Why else would advertisers use a woman in a bikini to sell … well,  just about everything?

You can bet that every technique imaginable, and a few that never should have been imagined at all, have been employed to this end. Clearly, some attention-getting devices that are appropriate to one product would not be for others, but that shouldn’t keep you from considering the options and exploring the possibilities.

This very effective print and online ad for Quince, a  jewelry, clothing and gift shop on Grand Ave. in St. Paul, is a good example. It features a nice female face, but it’s not a photograph—it’s an original painting done specifically for the ad. In a way this makes it an even more arresting image. The unique and varied lettering in the shop name speaks to the variety and uniqueness of what you’ll find in the shop. Even the shape of the ad itself, and the way it crops in on the face of the woman, helps create interest. The “hand-written” letter style and skewed placement of the ad copy is one more technique that catches the eye, ads interest, and is a perfect compliment to the other hand-drawn elements of the ad.

One thing intentionally missing from this ad is a picture of the store or product. Many advertisers have a habit of wanting everything including the kitchen sink in a single ad, and this can be a bad habit. This ad stops the reader and simply puts the  main message front and center without wasting time. That message is: we sell cool stuff and you’ll save 20% if you buy in December–and, oh yeah, here’s our address and phone number.

[NOTE: This ad and its original artwork were conceived, designed and executed by T&T Designs, Inc.]

“What we need is an authoritative spokesperson,” says a sales associate. “Like George Washington, or somebody people trust.” There is immediate agreement from the developers and brainstorming ensues re: who best to represent the prudent value of property and financing we have to offer. In the final analysis, when historical authority is matched with monetary wisdom, there emerges but one clear choice—Benjamin Franklin.

With Ben in place the conversation turns to how best to present him. First thoughts relate to Ben’s familiar representation on the $100.00 bill. It’s the obvious choice—it would work and fill the bill—but it seems a little too obvious and perhaps too easy. Maybe there’s something better. With meeting time remaining on the clock and everyone still in brainstorm mode, talk continues … but nothing concrete develops.

The marketing guys quietly exchange a few words and acknowledge that it’s up to them at this point. “We’ve got some ideas. We’ll put something together and bring it to the next meeting.” And with that the meeting adjourns.

Getting together after the meeting to discuss their options, Todd and Don (they’re the marketing guys) realized they knew someone—a relatively obscure character actor—who, if he shaved his beard, would make a pretty convincing Ben Franklin. By the following week they had photographed their “Ben” and put together some initial layouts for a mailer to spread the new “face” of the project. The layouts were a surprise to everyone, and enthusiastically received. The mailer was immediately approved and plans were developed to get this new image and message into the marketing pipeline as soon as possible.

Over the course of the following two years Ben was seen on signs and in ads all over town, pointing out the wisdom of buying these condos. This was a single condominium project, so no metrics were initiated to test Ben’s effectiveness. No focus groups. No surveys. But it was clear from the weekend traffic, new prospects—many with Ben’s mailer in hand—and sales figures that he was doing his job.

Sometimes marketing can be just plain fun as was the case with Ben, but fun doesn’t count if it’s frivolous. Ben was serious business, and the business behind Ben involved a number of marketing axioms. First, the initial idea of an authoritative spokes-figure was a sound one. It’s why prominent sports figures are hired to sell GatorAde. After that, the decision to go with a human Ben over a graphic of a $100 bill was equally savvy. People simply connect more readily with the human face, and that’s the connection the advertisers were seeking.

The other message in this short story is that the whole concept was hatched, developed and executed in the normal course of business … NOT as the result of a high-priced consultant or a big budget advertising campaign. It was a creative, practical and pro-active approach to emerging conditions. The entire program grew out of simply paying attention to marketing on a consistent basis: devoting the time for a group of individuals to focus on the reality, goals and possibilities at hand, allowing new ideas to materialize and grow, and folding those ideas into the existing budget.

Ben’s “human” face was seen everywhere, especially on signs—the mainstay ad media of real estate. Ben Franklin has a long history as statesman, inventor, publisher and founding father. Now you can add real estate salesman to the list.

OK … we did it together. So how did we do it.?

Surprisingly, and contrary to common belief, the answer did NOT involve a big marketing budget. In late 2008, T&T brought a series of very practical, cost-effective ideas to the table that the client embraced and implemented, and now they are reaping the benefits of their decisions.

One element was a thorough review of their existing marketing materials … it’s amazing what an independent and objective set of eyes can see. While the existing materials weren’t “bad” per se, the end result was something more consistent, sharp and cohesive that really brought the best that this quality development and its builder had to offer in to focus.

Another concept involved some interesting and effective strategies for maintaining those highly valuable prospect contacts. Marketing budgets are spent to generate prospects, and home buying is not an impulse buy or a *snap* decision, so the maintenance and cultivation of those prospects is of vital importance.

When business is brisk it’s so easy to ignore, overlook or neglect the many little details that keep your business on track. It becomes easy to just let a publication design your ad, along with the other 150 ads they have to slap together for their next issue. It becomes easy to run some black and white photocopies of your flyer with the new price pasted on it instead of giving it to your graphic designer to revise. You need perspective. An independent and objective professional can see your forest in spite of the trees you are focused on.

In the words of that successful suburban home builder:

We’re looking to establish a long-term relationship with our marketing firm, so they get to know us better and help us present who we really are to the marketplace. We’re really looking forward to our continuing relationship with T&T Designs.

“Marketing isn’t everything, but everything you do is.”